THE GOSPEL
Luke 13:22-30Strive to enter through the narrow gate.
Jesus,
your gate
is narrow yet
it opens easily and
we can come through it.
There’s a key that opens it
and everyone does have access to it.
It’s the key of love.
It was given to us
when we were created:
Love God.
love your neighbor.
It’s key that opens the narrow gate,
the one with the sign on it
that says
love.
THE FIRST READING
Isaiah 66:18-21
They shall bring your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, to Jerusalem,
my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Oh, God,
you gather every kind of people.
You welcome the shy
and the rowdy to
your house,
And the movers and shakers,
the presidents, the kings
the Muslims and the
campesinos.
Pry open our hearts.
Unlock our doors.
Gather us,
every
one.
THE SECOND READING
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
What is lame may not be disjointed but healed.
Wide ones will not get through the narrow door.
Please be our personal trainer.
Make us endure and
stretch.
Build our spiritual
muscles.