Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the  Gospel for this Sunday, August 24, 2025, entitled  “There are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

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This Sunday, the Word calls us to conversion seriously. When we ask, “Lord, are there only a few who are saved?”  Jesus tells us: Strive to enter through the narrow door… many will try to enter and will not be able…  some are last who will be first, and those who are first who will be last… they will come from east and west, from north and south, and will sit at the table in the kingdom of God.

What is the Lord trying to tell us with all this?  Which is the narrow gate through which we must enter?

The Alleluia gives us light to understand:  I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (cf.  Jn 14:5).  The door is Jesus  (cf.  Jn 10:9):  I am the door: whoever enters through me will be saved.  Jesus is the Savior.

Why is   the gate narrow ?  What is the effort to enter? For if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses it for me will find it  (cf.  Mt 16:24-25).

Because the path of discipleship is the path o humility. The Father has hidden the things of the Kingdom from those who consider themselves wise and understanding, and has revealed them to the simple, the poor, and the little ones (cf.  Mt 11:25-30).

And if you want to encounter Jesus, you must go to the last place. Because there Jesus is. Hidden in the manger of Bethlehem… hidden in the humiliation of the Cross. And the encounter with Jesus will fill your life.

On the other hand, if you seek positions of honor, you may find the “glamour” of this world, success, money… but the Lord is not there. There you will find vanity of vanities; all was vanity and chasing after wind  (cf.  Ecclesiastes 2:11).

Humility   is the door to faith. It is the humus, the good soil in which the seed can be welcomed and bear abundant fruit.

Humility is letting the Lord make you.  Anyone who tries to make himself, in his own strength, may end up hearing:  I don’t know where you are from. Go away from me…  The one who went down justified to his house was not the Pharisee, but the tax collector (cf.  Luke 18:9 ff.).

Humility is not living in self-sufficiency, but living gratefully in the ecclesial community that the Lord has given you.

Humility isn’t denying the gifts you’ve received. It’s recognizing that they are “gifts,” that is, that they were given to you. And freely! Without any merit on your part. And, therefore, living without stealing God’s glory.

Humility is recognizing that you do not give life to yourself; that you do not save yourself.  That the only one who can “renew” the earth—the earth of the world, the earth of your heart—is the Lord, with his Spirit, as the prophet Isaiah has announced to us.

A sign that you are welcoming the Lord into your heart is the joy that his presence produces, a joy that leads to praise :  Praise the Lord, all you nations; acclaim him, all you peoples.

Take heart!  Ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Ask for a humble, obedient, and grateful heart, a heart like the Lord’s…

Because you go up to heaven by going down!

Come, Holy Spirit!