Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that Jesus calls Christians to enter through the narrow gate and challenges the presumption of those who assume they are already saved.
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Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Aug. 24, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading in which Jesus says: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able” (Lk 13:22-30).
Jesus, the pope said, “did not choose the easy path of success or power; instead, in order to save us, he loved us to the point of walking through the ‘narrow gate’ of the cross.”
There are times when following the Lord, he added, will require “making difficult and unpopular decisions, resisting our selfish inclinations, placing ourselves at the service of others, and persevering in doing what is right when the logic of evil seems to prevail.”
In his Angelus address, Pope Leo said that Jesus calls into question what he described as “the security of believers” and added that the Lord’s words about the “narrow gate” are “meant primarily to challenge the presumption of those people who think they are already saved, who perform religious acts and feel that is all that is needed.”
“Our faith is authentic when it embraces our whole life, when it becomes a criterion for our decisions, when it makes us women and men committed to doing what is right and who take risks out of love, even as Jesus did,” he said.
“Jesus is the true measure of our faith; he is the gate through which we must pass in order to be saved (cf. Jn 10:9) by experiencing his love and by working, in our daily lives, to promote justice and peace,” Leo added.
“Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us find the courage to pass through the ‘narrow gate’ of the Gospel, so that we may open ourselves with joy to the wide embrace of God our loving Father.”
After leading the crowd in the Angelus prayer in Latin, the pope turned his thoughts to Christians suffering violence in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
“I express my closeness to the people of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, who have become victims of an unsecure and violent situation that continues to cause death and displacement. In asking you not to forget these brothers and sisters of ours, I invite you to pray for them, and I express my hope that the efforts of the country’s leaders will succeed in restoring security and peace in that territory,” he said.
He also renewed prayers for Ukraine, days after calling for a worldwide day of prayer and fasting for peace. “Today, we join our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who, with the spiritual initiative ‘World Prayer for Ukraine,’ are asking the Lord to grant peace to their tormented country,” he said.
Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X a letter from the pope in which Leo assured him of his prayer for the people suffering in Ukraine and that a path to peace for the good of all will be opened.
This article was originally published by CNA.
