In the eyes of Jesus, every person is of infinite worth whatever his or her ethnicity, culture or religion. The beautiful prophetic imagery of Isaiah in the first reading, proclaiming that people from every language and nation will be brought to God’s holy mountain in Jerusalem, finds fulfilment in the Gospel when Jesus declares that people from “east and west, from north and south, will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.â€
Every person is infinitely loved by God. To the one who asks if there will be only a few saved, Jesus replies that all must strive to “enter by the narrow door.†Salvation is God’s gift; neither a Christian’s by right nor confined to any particular religious belief. It is given out of love. Though we often struggle in our response, through the gift of faith God enables us to enter the “door†to eternal life.