Like dieting?

Here are some “interesting” and “humorous” diet tips…
• If no one sees you eating what you like, it has no calories
• If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they will cancel each other out.
• Food taken for medicinal purposes does not count. This would include buttered toast, cheese sandwich, chocolate jam…
• Snacks consumed during a movie do not count as they are part of the entertainment.
• Late-night snacks have no calories.

Dieting, over the last few years, has grown to be a fashionable trend.
 Many try to look slim and fit
 Many are more health-conscious.
 Many want to shed off any extra kilos

But when it comes to a spiritual realm, perhaps all of us need to do a “spiritual dieting”!
• A dieting to shed off the extra “fat” of sin and evil inclinations
• A dieting to reduce the overweight of “unholy” thoughts and “impure” feelings
• A dieting to burn away the bulging flab of “uncharitable” deeds and “critical” speech

This “dieting” is a necessity to be “slim” and “fit” and “fine” in order to enter through the narrow gate that Jesus proposes in today’s Gospel.

Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate… for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt 7: 13-14)

The Sermon on the Mount continues with Jesus presenting the wonderful message of the Kingdom of God and its radical requirements.

One of the key aspects in the Sermon on the Mount is the demand made on the part of the disciple to “make a choice”
• One has to radically “make a choice” for the Kingdom of God.
• One has to stay committed to this “choice” that is taken and live it to the fullness.

It is this “choice” that will determine whether our entry to eternity…
… eternal condemnation  – is through the “wide gate” or
… eternal life – is through the “narrow gate”.

Jesus says that it is easy to pass through the wide gate…
• All those who choose not to live in accordance to the Gospel values
• All those who are content to make life “merry” and just “live life to the max”
• All those who fail to respond to God’s Grace and deny having a life in Him
But this will lead to doom and condemnation!

To pass through the narrow gate is hard…
• All those who make a choice to live according to the teachings of the Lord
• All those who boldly seek to proclaim the Kingdom by their faithful and holy lives
• All those who constantly hold on to the Lord despite hardships and difficulties in life
But this will lead to joy and eternal life!

The choice for the Lord and His Kingdom requires us to shed away unnecessary “fat and flab” and ‘diet’ ourselves into being “fit and fine” to enter through the narrow gate.

Today is the feast of St Joseph Cafasso.
He was a 19th century priest, greatly devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and to Blessed Mother Mary. It was through his encouragements that St John Bosco decided his vocation of working with boys.

May his intercession and life be an aid and example for us.
Let His words inspire us, “We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still more.”

God Bless! Live Jesus!