Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

There are many modernist catholic thinkers, from Hans Urs Von Balthesar to Bishop Baron, that believe that hell might be empty, and that all might be saved. They want to believe that all will be given time at the moment of their death to choose God and that all of them will make that choice to be with the Lord. They simply ask “dare we hope, that all will be saved?” But sadly, I think that that question is wishful thinking, and bordering on the sin of presumption.

We have many other sources that teach us otherwise. Our lady (at Fatima), said that more people go to hell for sins of the flesh than any other sin, and she also said that souls are falling into hell like snowflakes fall onto the ground. Jesus Himself warned us more about hell, than any other subject in His teachings, and said that it would have been better for Judas if he had never been born. If all went to heaven in the end, then there would be no reason whatsoever for Jesus to make this statement. Because as St. Teresa said, all of the trials and tribulations of this world, when compared to heaven, will seem no worse than a night in bad hotel.

But I think that St Augustine summarized this all very nicely when he wrote:  “Narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that enter therein. This does not contradict what is said in the 8th chapter of S. Matthew: That many shall come from the east, and sit down in the kingdom of God; for many indeed shall join the blessed company of the angels, but when considered with the number of the slain, they will appear but few.” I think it is clear that Hell is a real place and many souls sadly choose to go there because of their hatred of God, and their love of their sins. Many will indeed be saved but sadly far more will be damned. And so, we must pray for them and their conversion.

If you want to be saved, you must walk the path of righteousness, and strive to enter the narrow gate and you must reject the wide easy road that leads to perdition. There is an analogy by St. John Bosco, that I think describes the road to hell very well. He likens it to a path that is wide and angled slightly downhill. As you begin the walk this path at a leisurly pace, it all seems really easy and pleasant. But as you go along, the road continues to angle down, ever so slightly, so that you are now walking faster and faster, but it is still easy. But the road just keeps continuing to angle downward, until you are almost running, because the incline is forcing it on you. Then eventually the road, gets so steep that you are almost sliding, and then eventually falling. And at the bottom of this road is the pit and the fiery furnace, of hell.

Does this mean that you cannot turn and scrape and struggle and crawl your way back to the top? Surely you can, but the longer you wander down that ever sloping highway to hell, the harder and harder it will be to turn back. So we must spend everyday discerning what path we are on, and where we are headed. And if you find ourselves on the wide path that leads to perdition, you MUST turn back NOW while you still have a chance. Every moment you put it off, you will be one step closer to that point where you are sliding and falling into the pit of hell, and by then it may be too late.

Don’t be that person sliding into hell, change your life now. When the end comes and you stand before the Lord for your final judgement, You do not want to hear Him say “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers! These are some of the most terrifying words that Jesus ever said in the Bible. Can you imagine hearing Him say that to you? Compare that with “well done, my good and faithful servant, come and enter into my glory”. Which of those do you want to hear God say to you? For me it is obvious.

But how is it possible for God to not recognize you? I suggest that you would have to change yourself into something that is completely different than what He created. You would have to be so marred and disfigured by sin that He could not see you anymore. We are made in the image of God, and when we do His will in this life, we reflect back that image back to Him, and He can recognized that reflection because He created it. When we utterly reject Him, and choose evil over good, falsity over truth, and ugliness over the beauty. Then we completely mar and disfigure the image of God inside us, and we essentially make a new image, an ugly image, an image of our own creation and He can not recognize us anymore, all He sees is evil, and God cannot see evil or allow it into His kingdom.

If you choose those bad things of this world, over God, He will not force you to choose Him. You are always free to reject Him. But He also cannot affirm you in your evil choices. That would be like Him denying His own perfection, and that is not possible. If God were to allow you into His kingdom in a state of unrepentant sin, He would ultimately negate His own nature, because that would be Him saying sin is okay, and God’s entire existence is completely opposed to sin, in every way.

So if you find yourself stuck in sin, and unrecognizable, what does it take for God to recognize you? You must turn to Him and despise your sin! You must reject the evil one, go to confession, and beg for His mercy. And then you must stay close to the sacraments, and live your life in a state of grace. When you do all of that, the scales of sin will fall away, and the image of God that He created will become visible again, and He will recognize you. But you must despise your sin, anything short of that is just lying to yourself. God sees all, you will not be able to fool Him, but He will also sees when you turn to Him, and like the Father in the prodigal son story He will run to you when He sees you coming. So turn to Him now, and be restored to His Kingdom.

Oh lord, please help me today to live in your image, to despise my sin, and get closer to you in confession. Amen.