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Enter by the Narrow Gate (An Exhortation)

Good Evening brothers and sisters.

Few times I heard over the radio, a 42 year-old evangelist Chris Stefanick, once recount he and his wife had a fight. He said, after a fight with his wife, he was complaining to God "Why does this have to be about her?" "Can it be about me?" and God spoke to him in his heart. GOD said: "You have every right to make it all about you, to put your own needs 1st, you have every right to be average, to be ordinary and not to become a Saint." Suffice to say he retracted his prayer and in retrospect he think God wasn't only calling him to Holiness but to happiness.

I think it is a good reminder for me being in the community as well, especially whenever I find myself complaining in my service, why do I have to sacrifice my family time and personal life for others, why cant I just do the bare minimum and just sit on the sideline? I always have the choice to make it all about me, to be average, to be ordinary. Come to think of it, there are a lot of people like this already in this world, I am adding up to that number.

Instead a Bible verse in Matthew 7 came to mind. Jesus said "Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it. But it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

I was also reminded of quotations from 2 of the more prominent saints in our time. One is from Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, when she said: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." St. Josemaria Escriva, in the very 1st lines of his book "The Way," once wrote: "Don't let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love... Don't fly like a barnyard hen when you can soar like an eagle."

As we prepare to worship our Lord, I would like to invite you to join me or at least include in your prayers tonight to ask the Lord for the grace to Enter by the Narrow gate. To do small things with great love.

Let us stand and pray:
"Lord we stand before you here tonight because we want grow in holiness with you and for you. Create in us a clean heart, renew the right spirit and we will offer sacrifices of praise to you, O Lord tonight." Amen.

Exhortation 2018-6-15

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