Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

I have written quite often, paraphrasing one of my favorite quotes from St. Irenaeus, that Jesus came to be one with us so that we can be one with him and that his invitation is for everyone! No one is excluded. You may be thinking, readying to write a response, or muttering under your breath that, “What gives then? If everyone is invited, how can Jesus say that not everyone will enter the Kingdom of heaven?”

The answer to that question is in the line that follows. The one who will enter heaven is, “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” If you or you know of someone who might still bristle at this apparent selective choosing, then it might be helpful to understand a little about heaven, as best as we, mere mortal, finite beings, can. Heaven is not so much a place but a state of being in relation to God. Heaven is the state of being in which we are privileged to share communion, a deeper intimacy with God for all eternity. We will still not know everything about God because God is infinite and we are finite. God is without limit, we are limited. We will never exhaust our relationship, never get bored with God.

If that attempt is not helpful, maybe a more three dimensional, earthly example may be of help. If we were invited to play a sport, an instrument, or to act in a play, with the end goal being that we would play in the upcoming game, concert, or performance, we might feel pretty excited about the offer. We tell the coach, conductor, or director “Great!” In the days that follow, we do not attend any of the practices, we do not practice the skills required to play the position, instrument, or role and we don’t return any of the follow up invitations by phone, email, or text. The day of the big game, concert, or performance comes, we gather our self together and head on over to the arena or hall. We arrive to see the coach, conductor, or director but are denied entrance. “What gives? You invited me to play!” The reply is, “Not everyone who says to me coach, coach (conductor, conductor, or director, director) is ready and prepared.”

Jesus indeed invites us to be in relationship with him, yes everyone. Some say yes and some say no. Some say yes, and then don’t do anything, some say yes and do some things, some say yes and dive in. Most of us take a few steps forward and a step or two back. Just like preparing to play in the big game or perform in the big concert, or play, we need to be committed, disciplined, and persistent with our faith life. Unlike a missed opportunity to participate in a game or performance, that we can correct and make another attempt down the road, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. A reading of Jesus’ interpretation of the Parable of the Sower may help here (cf. Mt 13:18-23, Mk: 4:13-20, and Lk 8:11-15).

The bottom line is that Jesus gave his life for us and through his grace we have been saved. This is a free gift, we haven’t nor can we earn it. Yet our time here on earth is time we are given to work out our salvation and be about building a relationship with Jesus so that we can come to know his Father as he does. From a place of relationship we can then come to know his will. Coming to know God’s will means coming to know his voice. This comes through prayer, spending time in his word, spending time in worship and fellowship at least weekly, being open to be led by the Holy Spirit to step out of our comfort zone and reach out to others in an act of service for another’s sake and not just our own. For we are here not only to actualize the grace we have been given for our salvation, we are to help others to do the same.

Photo: From hike along the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts sometime in the 80’s.

Link for today’s Mass reading:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120717.cfm