salvation
God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: September 20, 2026
Who saves us? At times we act and think as though we save ourselves. If I am holy enough, pure enough, free from serious sin, follow the rules. Then I will be saved. But, when we see ourselves as saved by Jesus, then we look only to the generosity and mercy of God. Our response is one of gratitude, including being grateful to see others also embraced in God’s plan of salvation.
Through the Prophet Isaiah God says, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways.” Human thinking leads to comparing ourselves to others, leads to envy, worrying about what is fair in our eyes. God’s thinking is fullness of generosity, unearned gift, Grace. We at times see love as something I have to earn, I need to do something to deserve being loved. But, God’s love is not earned, it is gratuitous. God’s will is our salvation, that all will be embraced in the Kingdom.
This Sunday’s Gospel reflects a struggle in the early Church. Some were upset that new Gentile converts were being received and treated equally as those who had been there from the beginning. They felt they should be deserving of more. At times today such a mentality can be found within a Christian community or Catholic parish. Some feel that they have been in the parish for 50 years, so they have more rights, it is more their parish, than new members who have just recently moved in to the parish.
Some feel that since they donate larger amounts that they should receive more attention or better treatment. Some feel that because they have faithfully attended Mass each Sunday for years, that they deserve to be treated with greater dignity and welcome than the person who has drifted from the practice of the faith for some time.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways.” A Catholic vision needs to embrace the thoughts and ways of God, in particular, to see each person as having equal dignity and worth. A Catholic parish should not welcome some more than others based on how long they have been there, how much they contribute, or some comparison of their faithfulness. We are to strive for God’s generosity, not requiring others to earn their salvation, but always ready to welcome those who are turning to God, who are coming searching for God’s embrace.
This past week in the United Nations General Assembly speeches, we heard leaders calling each other names, threatening one another, dividing the world in a black and white fashion, good and evil, winners and losers. There we see human ways and human thoughts. We need to hear God saying: “my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways.” God’s way is unconditional love, unlimited forgiveness, a will for salvation of all, no enemies, where anyone who turns even at the last moment will be received.
Our human ways lead to division, war, destruction, inequality. God’s ways lead to unity, peace, healing, equality of dignity.
All of us can turn to God with confidence, no matter your past, no matter the time, no comparing to others, there we will find an incredible generosity. For we do not save ourselves, we do not earn God’s love, we simply turn with trust and there we are received in God’s generosity. Then perhaps we will be able to receive others with a similar generosity.
Enter The Narrow Gate
21st Sunday Ordinary Time
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: August 21, 2022
Do not take God for granted. Do not take your salvation for granted.
The disciples ask Jesus, “Will only a few be saved?” He tells them, or perhaps warns them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.”
The Prophet Isaiah presents a vision of the God who gathers all nations. God wills all to be saved, all to be gathered together. But, Jesus calls us to enter by the narrow door and tells a parable of the owner of the house who has shut the door and you are outside knocking at the door wanting to be let in. The owner replies, “I do not know where you come from.” They say that they ate and drank with him, but the owner again replies, “I do not know where you come from.”
Do not take for granted your salvation, do not take your relationship with God for granted.
You are not saved by being in the right nation, or the right religion, or the right church, or being in the right group or right family. Often in our world being in the right family, or right nation, or right group, gives you an advantage. But, in the eyes of God, none of that matters.
Enter by the narrow gate, do not take for granted your relationship with God, do not take for granted your friendship with Jesus. Do not think that because you are a Christian, because you are a practicing Catholic, that the owner will know you and let you in.
God’s will is our salvation. It is not that God does not want us to be saved. In Jesus, God has revealed the desire to be an intimate friend with all of us. But, not based on piety or purity or externals. Are we open to being a friend with God, even when it challenges me, when it calls me to change?
Last week I read about someone interviewing a theologian for a book. He asked him, “If someone asked you how to go about finding God, what would you say?” This was his answer. He referred to the words that C.G. Jung had chiseled on his stone lintel in Switzerland that basically said, “You will eventually find God whether you want to or not.” Then he said, “If you want to (even if you don’t happen to believe God exists) all you have to do is find some quiet place, be quiet inside yourself, and ask God to let you find God (or God you).” Then he said that as far as he knew it was a prayer that is always answered.
Let God find you, open your heart to allow God to enter.
God wants to find you, wants to spend time with you, wants a friendship with you. Often we do not want that narrow gate that requires me to be silent, requires me to change, requires me to have new priorities, requires me to be humble.
It is not enough to know about God, to know about the Faith. We need to embrace God, work to be one with God, find God or be found by God in our life.
Everyone close your eyes. Be quiet inside yourself for a moment. Then silently say this prayer, “God, let me find you or you find me.”
Do not take God for granted, we do not want to be like those standing on the outside knocking on the door. Enter by the narrow door, be found by God so that God knows you and lets you in.
Would Jesus Recognize Me?
21st Sunday In Ordinary Time – Year C
Fr. Mark Gatto
Preached: August 25, 2019
Would Jesus recognize me if I met him? Would Jesus recognize you? If we were knocking at the door of the heart of God, will God recognize us, or will the Lord say to us as in the Gospel, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me.”
Our challenge is to live our lives in such a way that Jesus knows me and recognizes me. By my words, by my actions, by how I treat others, does my way of life reflect the way of Jesus? Will Jesus recognize us as people who belong to him?
A life of prayer and sacraments is one step in this path to be recognized by the living God. But, prayer and sacraments in themselves do not get us into heaven. They are not like some pass so that God receives us when we knock. But, prayer and sacraments are important if they help us to see with the eyes of God. If they help to change our hearts into the heart of Jesus.
When our prayer and the sacraments bring us closer to the living God, when they change our hearts and lead us to see as Jesus sees, then prayer and sacraments will lead us to live in a new way. A way that truly reflects the way of Jesus, a way that will allow the Lord to recognize us when we knock at the heart of God.
One of the people asks Jesus, “will only a few be saved?” I wonder if this person assumed that they would be saved and was sort of hoping that many others would not be saved. Sometimes we who are supposedly Christian, followers of Jesus, take for granted our own salvation and are ready to reject others as not Godly enough or not part of God’s kingdom. Jesus finishes the Gospel today with those words, “some are last who will be first, some are first who will be last.”
Things are not always as they seem. So called winners in this world might end up last in God’s eyes, and so called losers might end up first in God’s eyes. Many of us might be very surprised to see who is ahead of us in the Kingdom of God.
Do not take for granted our faith, our relationship with God. Am I living as someone who belongs in the home of God? Am I living in such a way that the Lord will recognize me as one who belongs?
We need to engage in deep prayer and spend time with the Lord in the Sacraments. Then let this prayer and sacraments change our hearts into the heart of Jesus, change our vision to see with the eyes of God. To live our lives in such a way that the Lord will recognize us when we knock at the door of God’s heart.