There are two ways to live and they can be described by the paths we travel on through life. One path is easy, the other is difficult. The easy path is more popular, it is full of pleasures and, generally, most people will relate to the stuff you do on it, but it does not lead to God. The difficult path is less popular, but it leads to eternal life because this path is purely set on God’s will.
One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings.
DIARY Of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska Divine Mercy in My Soul, 2005, Marian Press Stockbridge, MA
It’s not always easy to follow the path to eternal life with Jesus. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to stay on this path, and it requires you to lay down your life in love.
Even though the difficult path is full of obstacles, trials, and struggles; remember that this is the right path. We need to stay on this path no matter what.
Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Luke 12:51-53
Even if your family, friends, co-workers ridicule you or think you’re foolish… who cares. By staying on the narrow path, you have your heart set on eternal life.
Your faithfulness shown by staying on the narrow path is a way to lead by example because some people will see how you live your life and will realize the path they’re on is empty. The wide path that many people are on is vain and pointless, it leads to nowhere. We need to joyfully take up our cross following Jesus every day and stay on the narrow path, and eventually, some will see the light and join us.
Blessed is the man
Psalm 1:1-2
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
This post was inspired by Fr. Goring’s homily at St. Mary’s on October 21, 2021 (watch the homily here).
Staying on the narrow path will lead to saintdom, here’s a related video:
But a lot of the time, we look at these great saints and think, “I could never be like them,” when in fact, sanctity is more accessible to us right now than we could ever even imagine.
We know we should be striving to be saints, but what does that look like for people like you and me?