Lord, will only a few people be saved?
Is 66,18-21; Ps 116; Heb 12,5-7.11-13; Lk 13,22-30
25 AUGUST
The number of those who are saved and those who are lost does not depend on God. It depends on the Church and the individual person. It depends on the Church and especially on the ministers of the Word, on whom the responsibility of the proclamation of the Gospel falls wholly. It falls on the single person that can adhere to the preaching or can even refuse to accept the word of salvation and eternal life. This double responsibility has already been announced in the Old Testament by the prophet Ezekiel.
He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. Son of man, he said to me, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you; hear them well. Now go to the exiles, to your countrymen, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God! – whether they heed or resist! Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life. If a virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin, and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death if you did not warn him. When, on the other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and you shall save your own life (Cf. Ez 3,1-21).
Conscious of this responsibility, Saint Paul declares solemnly, before all the bishops of Asia, his innocence. Whoever gets lost, does not get lost for his disobedience.
And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God (At 20,26-27).
From the moment of the mission, which for the ministers of the Word begins from the moment of their consecration, they are responsible for the salvation of every man. All the ministers operators of injustice – for them injustice is the non-fulfilment according to very pure truth and obedience of their mission – are responsible for every person that is lost for failure of proclamation and teaching of how the Gospel is to be lived. Then, the responsibility of the one who has listened and seen, begins. If this does not get converted, does not retreat from evil, does not believe in the Word of life and grace, he is responsible for eternity before his true Lord and God. It is a universal, immortal and eternal law.
He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
There is a truth that needs to be put in the heart. We can alter, misrepresent, modify, transform and falsify the Word of Jesus. We are free to not believe and even fight against the Word. Jesus remains eternally faithful to what has come out of his mouth. If He has said He will not recognize us, He will not recognize us. We can deceive the world. He does not deceive, he does not deceive himself and will never be unfaithful to his Word.
Mother of God, Angels and Saints convince the hearts of their very high responsibility.