One to One, Heart to Heart

It seems we have had several Gospels in a row that are troubling. This one has Jesus warning us to come into the Kingdom by the narrow door. If not, we will not be recognized as followers. It made me wonder exactly what narrow door He was talking about.

Jesus used the image for a reason. At the time of Jesus, there were generally two ways into a castle. One was a wide entry that was big enough for wagons and cattle and all the wares that people needed. The other was a small door to the side that was the size of a person that could easily be opened and closed. It was a one-at-a-time entrance. The reading ends with Jesus denying he knows those who came in by the wide path and welcoming into the Kingdom those who came into the Kingdom by the narrow way.

It is always puzzling to me when we see Jesus telling a story where people are rejected and refused entry. It just doesn’t jive with the Jesus I love who welcomes everyone. So, I reread it, sat in the quiet, and waited. I knew Jesus would tell me what He meant. He would show me what He wanted me to understand.

In the silence of my heart, I heard the words again and again and could sense Jesus just telling me to listen. Then, the germ of insight began to form in the stillness.

Perhaps the narrow door is a personal relationship with God.  

We often come into our faith through the wide door and accept the labels of religion, but that doesn’t mean we know the Lord. We can attend mass and retreat days, and be on the Parish Council, the Women’s Guild, and the Knights of Columbus, but we can still travel by the wide gate. We can give time to clothing drives, Right to Life groups, and lobbying politicians; we are still traveling through the wide door. We can even provide hours to Saint Vincent de Paul, serving those who experience poverty and do not find the narrow way.

Don’t get me wrong, all those activities are excellent and essential works of the faith and God, but they are the wide door.

The narrow door is small. It is a one-person-at-a-time door. The little door in Jesus’ story is His call to each of us to have a personal, intimate relationship with Him. He is calling us to know Him so that He can know us.  

Jesus wants a one-to-one relationship with us. Jesus desires a heart-to-heart connection with each heart that follows Him. Jesus wants to know our love, pain, desire, weakness, and journey. And what is more, He wants us to know Him just as intimately.  

All the good works done in His name are not enough. Jesus doesn’t get to know us in large groups that fit through wide doors. He gets to know us one-on-one when we travel into the Kingdom of His love through the small door. The door that we can only enter alone.  

We can say again and again, “Lord, you know me, I was the one giving out clothing, I was the one at mass, I was the one who set up and took down chairs for meetings and gatherings in your name.” Jesus will say, “Thank you, that is good work you did for my people, but I don’t know YOU.”  

We can do all manner of good deeds, and that is what the Gospel calls us to do. But in this story, Jesus calls us to more. He invites us to find the small door and come through. He calls us to know and love Him so He can know and love us. Personally, not just as a part of a collective, but one to one, heart to heart, Jesus wants to know us.

Prayer is the narrow door. Prayer is how we get to know God and how God gets to know us. It is intimate, personal, and honest. Intimacy with God can be found in words or shared silence. But it is never rote. Prayer is the bottomless well in our being, and it is there that we know intimacy with God. It is the narrow door.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen