October 28, 2004
Some time ago, my buddy and I traveled to a retreat being held in Blackwood, NJ for pro-life leaders. Mike began to tell me how much of a fan he was of the retreat master, Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Since I had been contemplating joining the friars, I began to share with Mike that I knew Fr, Benedict. I told him how I met him and spent some time with him. Mike, of course, thought I was just saying that because he was such a big fan. So, despite my insistence, he did not believe me. Then something delightful happened.
We arrived at the Pius X retreat house a few hours later. Fr. Benedict was shaking hands - meeting new people and greeting old friends. Mike’s face betrayed a strange mixture of anxiety and awe as he anticipated meeting one of his heroes. But before that actually happened, the host of the retreat assembled the retreatants, about a hundred in all. He asked everyone to introduce themselves, so we proceeded around the room—one after another—until it was finally my turn (Mike and I were among the last ten). I stood up, stated my name, and before I could finish, Fr. Benedict stood up and exclaimed, “Chris! I know you! How have you been?” He had not said a word to anyone else during the introductions. Mike's face changed from anxiety and awe to shock and stupor. I, of course, was quite delighted (and surprised). Yes, I knew Fr. Benedict, but I really did not think he knew me.
How nice it was to hear Fr. Benedict saying, “I know you.” It stands in stark contrast to Jesus’ words in Luke 13:25: “I do not know you.”
In context, Jesus is making the point that the faithful must strive to enter through the narrow gate; in other words, many people take salvation for granted. How about the old “but I'm a good, person—I haven’t hurt anybody” defense often asserted by those who do not go to Mass or who willfully dissent from Church teachings as if they know better—abortion/pro choice, contraception/sterilization, pornography, racism/prejudice, using the Lord's name in vain, failure to attend regularly Mass and Confession, unworthy reception of Holy Communion—not to even mention a multitude of sins of omission! Is this not an attempt, so to speak, to widen the gate?
My point is simply this: The Christian life is a narrow gate. It is difficult to enter through the narrow gate first of all because it is difficult to live the Christian life. It is a life of grace and the means by which we come to know Our Lord, Jesus Christ—and he comes to know us. Then, once we have entered through the narrow gate we must become in turn defenders of the gate, of the Christian life.
Pope John Paul has this to say as we embark upon this year of the Holy Eucharist:
The encounter with Christ, constantly intensified and deepened in the Eucharist, issues in the Church and in every Christian an urgent summons to testimony and evangelization…It is a mistake to think that any public reference to faith will somehow undermine the rightful autonomy of the State and civil institutions, or that it can even encourage attitudes of intolerance. If history demonstrates that mistakes have also been made in this area by believers, as I acknowledged on the occasion of the Jubilee, this must be attributed not to “Christian roots,” but to the failure of Christians to be faithful to those roots. One who learns to say 'thank you' in the manner of the crucified Christ might end up as a martyr, but never as a persecutor. {Mane Nobiscum Domine, nn. 24 & 26)
Let each of us live our Christian lives so that we may one day hear Jesus say to us, “I know you,”
Fr. Sylvester Mary Mann, C.F.R.
Director of St. Anthony's Residence, residing at St. Crispin Friary in the
South Bronx
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