Visitation of Our Lady

This weekend we begin a new liturgical year, as we are celebrating the First Sunday of Advent. To me, Advent is probably the most misunderstood of the liturgical seasons. We kinda don’t understand it, and so we don’t celebrate it well. But the better we understand Advent, the better we spiritually enter into the season, and we have a better Christmas.

How many people do you suppose actually make it to heaven? A few? About half? Quite a few? Most? Well, if you know the answer, give me a call. I’d like to know the answer as well. Because, truth be known, I don’t know. But, I do have an educated guess which, later in the article, I’ll share with you. Jesus was asked the question. And, he punted. Rather than answering the question directly, Jesus did what he so frequently did. Jesus said in effect, “Look, I’m not going to give you a percentage of people who get to heaven but I’m going to tell you HOW to get there.” Jesus then went on to say, “Go through the narrow gate.” And, of course, that’s a head scratcher. What does going through the narrow gate mean? Well, I think it means we’ll get to heaven if we live the way Jesus did. If we live a life of sacrificial love. If we put others first and ourselves last.