STRAIGHT STREET (ACTS 9:11)

“How narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it!” —Matthew 7:14

The homilist at this morning’s Mass gave a vivid example from his childhood of following the narrow way. In his youth, his scout troop was holding a skills contest. One of the skills involved riding a bicycle along a straight and thin line. To succeed in the contest, the bicyclist had to keep his wheels on the line.

When he focused on keeping the bike’s wheels on the line, his wheels invariably strayed off in one direction or the other. He was getting frustrated by his inability to control his path exactly. The scout leader pulled him aside and advised him to focus ahead on the finish line instead of looking down at the line, and to also approach the start of the line with a bit of speed. To his amazement, he discovered that by looking at the goal with some forward momentum, he actually stayed on the line and found success.

This is an apt analogy for the Christian life. When we “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus” (Heb 12:2) and continue moving toward Him each day with our entire attention on the finish line (Phil 3:14), we can stay on the narrow path because Jesus draws us irresistibly to Himself (Jn 12:32). When we take our eyes off Jesus to focus on our own efforts and look at the path instead of the Lord of the path, we stray off the narrow way (see Lk 9:62). “Fix your eyes on Jesus” (Heb 3:1) and draw near to Him.

PRAYER: Father, “draw [me] with human cords, with bands of love” (Hos 11:4).
PROMISE: “He who does these things shall never be disturbed.” –Ps 15:5
PRAISE: Trusting in the Lord to change hearts made Thomas a much better evangelizer.