by Father Nnamdi Moneme | August 28, 2025 1:00 am
“My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, by our free choices today, we are either striving for and preparing our souls for eternal peace of heaven or for the endless torture and regret of hell,”
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
A woman recently shared with me how she had prepared everything for her funeral so that she would not be a burden to her relatives when she passed away. She had a brand-new urn for her cremains, a favorite spot in her yard for her resting place, and even the chapel where the funeral Mass would be held.
When I asked her if she was also preparing her soul for heaven, her blank stare showed me that she had not thought deeply of that at all. She was so busy preparing for the details of her funeral that she had completely ignored the question about where her soul was heading. She seemed to assume that she was already on the way to heaven.
In Lk 13:22-30, Jesus was asked a simple Yes or No question, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He did not give a direct answer but called each of us to strenuously and continuously strive for heaven, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
There are five deadly assumptions that we must never make in this life if we are going to strive for heaven successfully.
Firstly, we must never assume that we have tomorrow.
Today is all that we have and we have a very limited time to make effort to pass through the gates of God’s kingdom, “After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’” The narrow gate will not be open forever. Our knocking and prayer will be useless when the door is closed at the end of our lives.
This is the moment for us to make effort to do the will of God with love and by the power of His grace. This is the moment to repent of our sins and refuse to be mastered by our evil tendencies. This is a time obey God, to love Him and our neighbors, to serve, to forgive, and to become more and more like Jesus in thoughts, words, and deeds.
Secondly, we must never assume that we are strong enough to enter heaven on our own.
Though our effort and striving are necessary, we do not place our trust in these things but on the grace of God and His love for us that give supernatural value to our efforts in the spiritual life.
On our strength alone, we cannot successfully endure the struggles necessary to enter the kingdom, “Many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” We must beg God for His grace in prayer and experience this grace in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharis and Confession. Only acts prompted and supported by divine grace and love will bring us to heaven.
Thirdly, we must never assume that we will experience the grace of God in the future.
God is always gracious to us and always offers us graces that we need. But God gives His graces as gifts to whom He will, when He wills, and how He wills. We have no right to His grace or how He is to give it. Thus, we cannot rightly presume His graces will be given to us as we desire it and when we desire it.
God gives us grace for the present moment. This is why He asks us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”(Mt 6:11) His graces are new every moment and He does not give us grace for tomorrow today. Our task is to make good use of the grace of the present moment and not assume that we will receive all the graces in an indefinite future time.
In addition, our ability to receive the graces of God in the future depends on our disposition in prayer and fidelity to His graces today, “To the one who has, more will be given and he will have an abundance. As for the one who does not have, even what little he has will be taken away.”(Mt 13:12) It is thus deadly to assume that we will experience His grace tomorrow when we are not faithful to the graces of the present moment.
Fourth, we must not assume heaven based on our past successes and good deeds.
Our fidelity in the past does not guarantee our fidelity tomorrow. This is why Jesus said, “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
It is possible that those who have done good for most of their lives will give themselves to doing evil in the later moments of their lives and thus merit the Lord’s rejection, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.” No matter how well we have fought the fight of faith, we must continue to strive for greater fidelity till the very end.
Fifth, we must not assume heaven based on our privileged relationship with God.
Having known and been in the company of Jesus does not dispense us from the obligation to strive for heaven all the time. To those who say to Him, “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets,” but fail to strive for fulness of life with Him in heaven, He will respond, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me.” Our privileged relationship with Jesus must also spurn us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”(Phil 2:12)
We are not guaranteed heaven simply because we know the Son of God intimately, or because we have been baptized or accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We cannot assume entry into His kingdom because we attend Mass on Sundays, read His word, and receive the sacraments regularly. We are still required to make continuous and strenuous effort to enter His kingdom.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, by our free choices today, we are either striving for and preparing our souls for eternal peace of heaven or for the endless torture and regret of hell, “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.” What we strive for today and always will determine our eternal destiny. Not to strive for heaven is to strive for hell.
The beautiful and hopeful reality is that God is always acting to prepare us for heaven through the trials of this earthly life whereby we are taught discipline, “At the time all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” We cannot experience the eternal peace and holiness of heaven if we reject the loving discipline that God providentially offers to us.
God is disciplining us as His beloved children so that we become disciplined like Jesus, “For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; He scourges every son He acknowledges.”(Heb 12:5-7, 11-13) Jesus is the truly disciplined one who, grounded in the love of the Father, fulfilled the Father’s will without making excuses or assuming anything.
The trials and difficulties of our lives are moments of God disciplining us because they make clear to us the exact things we are striving for in this life and the many deadly assumptions that we are making. We just cannot enter into God’s kingdom if we are not also disciplined like Jesus, His beloved Son.
Our Eucharistic Lord shares with us both His life and His discipline through Holy Communion. He offers us grace to strive for heaven as we should without any presumptions. We know that we are truly preparing our souls for heaven and not for hell when we strive now and always for heaven and assume nothing at all.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Is 66:1-21; Heb 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13:22-30
Image credit: Titian[1], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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About the author:
Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, is a Roman Catholic priest and religious of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary currently serving in the Philippines. He teaches theology and is a seminary formator for candidates to the priesthood and religious life. Father also gives Ignatian retreats and serves as spiritual director to many of the lay, religious, and clergy in the area.
He earned his first degree in Physics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Ordained in 2009, he studied at St. John’s seminary, in Brighton, Massachusetts. Father has an STL/MA in Moral Theology from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.
Father Moneme blogs at https://toquenchhisthirst.wordpress.com/[2].
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