On this Sunday, Luke's Gospel brings to our attention Jesus' exhortation to strive to enter through the narrow gate, reiterating that at the moment of our final encounter with Him, our deeds will speak for us.
«And behold, there are those who are last who will be first, and there are those who are first who will be last» (Lk 13:30).
The theme of the Narrow Gate and 'becoming the last' is present throughout the Franciscan sources.
After his conversion, the Son of Peter Bernardone took great care to follow Jesus' recommendation to «strive to enter through the narrow gate».
In fact, in what we call the "Writings of Francis" [mostly dictated to a friar who was his secretary], his firm adherence to the Gospel emerges clearly.
In the Earlier Rule (1221), we find among the exhortations addressed to his friars:
'And let them strive to enter through the narrow gate, for the Lord says: "Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and few find it" (FF 37).
Well aware of the Gospel's demand for humility and minority, he responded to his followers regarding who should be considered a true friar minor:
"Take a dead body," he said, "and put it wherever you like. You will see that if you move it, it does not resist; if you let it fall, it does not protest. If you put it on a chair, it will not look up, but down. If you put it in purple, it will seem twice as pale. This is the true obedient person: one who does not judge why he is being moved; he does not care where he is sent; he does not insist on being transferred; when elected to office, he maintains his usual humility; the more he is honoured, the more he considers himself unworthy" (FF 1107).
And Clare was no less so!
In her Testament left to her sisters, we read:
"But since the way is narrow and the gate is small through which one enters into life, few are those who find it and enter into it; and even if there are many who enter, very few persevere in it. But blessed are those who are allowed to walk this path and persevere to the end" (FF 2850).
In the Legend:
"From then on, she no longer refused any menial task, to the point that, for the most part, she was the one who poured water on her sisters' hands, stood to assist them while they sat, and served them at table while they ate" (FF 3180).
Yes, the last shall be first in the Kingdom of God!
How many have been pushed aside by the harshness and arrogance of competitive life will be embraced by God's mercy.
Sunday 21st O.T. year C (Lk 13:22-30)
