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https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/176Audio transcript
https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/176I would say that over the last 50 or 60 years or so, there's been a remarkable change of mentality and worldview amongst Catholics, that hasn't really been paid too much attention to.
I would say that the way many of our fellow Catholics look at the world today, would describe it like this: Broad and wide is the way that leads to Heaven.
Almost everybody's going there.
Narrow is the door that leads to hell.
Hardly anybody's going there.
Now, you might say, like, "What's wrong with this picture?"
It's exactly the opposite of what Jesus Himself said. In Matthew, chapter seven, he says, "Broad and wide is the way that's leading to destruction.
Many are traveling that way.
Narrow is the door that leads to life, difficult is the road, and few there are who are finding it."
Now, Jesus didn't say this because he was happy about the situation.
He didn't say it because this is how it has to be.
But when you look out on the world as it is, many, many people are not honoring God.
They're not believing in Jesus.
They're not living righteous lives.
What Jesus is kind of trying to wake us up to is saying, "Hey.
This isn't a game. You know?
If you don't hold on to the bread of life, if you don't really hold on to the one that the Father has sent to bring us to Heaven, you're not gonna go there."
You know?
It's just really, really serious, and this isn't an isolated text. Like Luke, chapter 13.
Imagine, people asked Jesus, "Will there be few in number who are saved?"
Now, that's a pretty interesting question, isn't it?
He said, "Try very hard to enter by the narrow door, because many will try to enter, but will not be able to."
And then it goes on to say ... Well, people say, "Hey, wait a second, Jesus.
We came to your preaching. We ate and drank with you in the streets. What do you mean?"
He says, "I don't know you. Depart from me."
So, people heard about Jesus. They knew about Jesus.
They enjoyed his preaching.
Maybe they even got healed.
But they didn't respond with faith and repentance, and change their lives.
They didn't become disciples.
They didn't enter into a relationship with Him, and pay attention to the instructions He's trying to give us about how to end up in Heaven, rather than hell.
That's why I wrote the book.
To the Synod on the New Evangelization, in 2012.
You wrote a book, actually, Will Many Be Saved?
Bishop Robert Barron, who at the time was Father Barron, familiar to probably almost everybody in the Catholic world ... wrote a review of that book.
You wrote a reply, and the two of you carried on a conversation about salvation.
"Will Many Be Saved"?