Mary and the "narrow gate"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s Gospel verses are taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. Listening to the last few verses, I thought especially of our Mother Mary:

…“Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few.”

I do not think I ever made the connection between the “narrow gate” and Mary before this morning. However, it seems to me, in these verses, Jesus is revealing to us His Way of Perfection, which includes Mary in her unique role as Mother and Model for His Church, the members of His Body. Jesus came to us, given by the Father, through Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We return to the Father in the same manner, in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Mary.

How few there seem to be, in the present time and culture, who have “found” Mary as Jesus’ gift to us enabling us to find Him, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit give us Life! How few have heard Jesus and obeyed His Words: “Behold your Mother” and like John have taken Mary into their lives?

How truly Mary is the gate who opened herself completely to God’s Love, not only that she would conceive and bring forth Jesus but that she would be an icon of the Church sent to continue bringing Jesus to the world in such need of Him - through the power of the Holy Spirit, for the Glory of God! In the Litany of Loreto, one of Mary’s titles is: “Gate of Heaven” – how appropriate that title is for us to ponder!

 

[Joy2day]

Yes, we should always remember the wonderful gift of the Queen of Heaven, the Beautiful Rose, the Shining Star.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s Gospel verses are taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. Listening to the last few verses, I thought especially of our Mother Mary:

I do not think I ever made the connection between the “narrow gate” and Mary before this morning. However, it seems to me, in these verses, Jesus is revealing to us His Way of Perfection, which includes Mary in her unique role as Mother and Model for His Church, the members of His Body. Jesus came to us, given by the Father, through Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We return to the Father in the same manner, in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Mary.

How few there seem to be, in the present time and culture, who have “found” Mary as Jesus’ gift to us enabling us to find Him, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit give us Life! How few have heard Jesus and obeyed His Words: “Behold your Mother” and like John have taken Mary into their lives?

How truly Mary is the gate who opened herself completely to God’s Love, not only that she would conceive and bring forth Jesus but that she would be an icon of the Church sent to continue bringing Jesus to the world in such need of Him - through the power of the Holy Spirit, for the Glory of God! In the Litany of Loreto, one of Mary’s titles is: “Gate of Heaven” – how appropriate that title is for us to ponder!

I am a little confused, and don’t mean to be argumentative, but are you saying that the “narrow gate” referred to by Jesus was Mary? In that respect, I really disagree with this interpretation. It is clear from the passage itself that Jesus is referring to entering heaven by walking a narrow path of avoiding sin and temptation and the influence of the secular world, thus the gate would necessarily be narrow. I do not believe Jesus was referring to Mary at all here, and we have to be careful not to put our own interpretations on the plain meaning of Sacred Scripture.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in all that the Church teaches about Mary, and realize she is the means by which God chose to send His Son into the world, and she is our beloved spiritual Mother. I love her, but I am hesitant to ascribe to her something like being the “narrow gate” Jesus speaks of in the scripture, and as far as I know, that interpretation is not taught by the Church. I do admire, though, your devotion to the Blessed Mother.

 

[SJacob7]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s Gospel verses are taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. Listening to the last few verses, I thought especially of our Mother Mary:

I do not think I ever made the connection between the “narrow gate” and Mary before this morning. However, it seems to me, in these verses, Jesus is revealing to us His Way of Perfection, which includes Mary in her unique role as Mother and Model for His Church, the members of His Body. Jesus came to us, given by the Father, through Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We return to the Father in the same manner, in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Mary.

How few there seem to be, in the present time and culture, who have “found” Mary as Jesus’ gift to us enabling us to find Him, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit give us Life! How few have heard Jesus and obeyed His Words: “Behold your Mother” and like John have taken Mary into their lives?

How truly Mary is the gate who opened herself completely to God’s Love, not only that she would conceive and bring forth Jesus but that she would be an icon of the Church sent to continue bringing Jesus to the world in such need of Him - through the power of the Holy Spirit, for the Glory of God! In the Litany of Loreto, one of Mary’s titles is: “Gate of Heaven” – how appropriate that title is for us to ponder!

I respectfully, but strongly disagree with your statement that we return to the Father in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, through Mary. Through Mary? Really? Is going through Mary required for our salvation? That’s dangerous theology.

 

[RPRPsych]

I am a little confused, and don’t mean to be argumentative, but are you saying that the “narrow gate” referred to by Jesus was Mary? In that respect, I really disagree with this interpretation. It is clear from the passage itself that Jesus is referring to entering heaven by walking a narrow path of avoiding sin and temptation and the influence of the secular world, thus the gate would necessarily be narrow. I do not believe Jesus was referring to Mary at all here, and we have to be careful not to put our own interpretations on the plain meaning of Sacred Scripture.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in all that the Church teaches about Mary, and realize she is the means by which God chose to send His Son into the world, and she is our beloved spiritual Mother. I love her, but I am hesitant to ascribe to her something like being the “narrow gate” Jesus speaks of in the scripture, and as far as I know, that interpretation is not taught by the Church. I do admire, though, your devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Well, I think a more orthodox interpretation would be that Mary can help us get through the narrow gate:

“From day to day, from moment to moment, she increased so much this twofold plenitude that she attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace. So much so, that the Almighty made her the sole custodian of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces. She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She can lead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them through the narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, sceptre and crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that Son.”

(Saint Louis Marie de Montfort)

 

[R_H_Benson]

I respectfully, but strongly disagree with your statement that we return to the Father in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, through Mary. Through Mary? Really? Is going through Mary required for our salvation? That’s dangerous theology.

It is actually a beautiful, exceedingly orthodox theology. I highly recommend “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary” by St. Louis Marie de Montfort.

 

[MariaChristi]

Yes, we should always remember the wonderful gift of the Queen of Heaven, the Beautiful Rose, the Shining Star.

Dear Joy2day,

Thanks for your reply and your love for our Mother Mary. Truly Mary is a special gift from Jesus to be our Mother and Model. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church helps us understand:

1. Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it…

 

[MariaChristi]

Yes, we should always remember the wonderful gift of the Queen of Heaven, the Beautiful Rose, the Shining Star.

Dear Joy2day,

Thanks for your reply and your love for our Mother Mary. Truly Mary is a special gift from Jesus to be our Mother and Model. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church helps us understand:

1. Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it…

 

[temperance2]

I love her, but I am hesitant to ascribe to her something like being the “narrow gate” Jesus speaks of in the scripture, and as far as I know, that interpretation is not taught by the Church. I do admire, though, your devotion to the Blessed Mother.

 

[MariaChristi]

I am a little confused, and don’t mean to be argumentative, but are you saying that the “narrow gate” referred to by Jesus was Mary? In that respect, I really disagree with this interpretation. It is clear from the passage itself that Jesus is referring to entering heaven by walking a narrow path of avoiding sin and temptation and the influence of the secular world, thus the gate would necessarily be narrow. I do not believe Jesus was referring to Mary at all here, and we have to be careful not to put our own interpretations on the plain meaning of Sacred Scripture.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in all that the Church teaches about Mary, and realize she is the means by which God chose to send His Son into the world, and she is our beloved spiritual Mother. I love her, but I am hesitant to ascribe to her something like being the “narrow gate” Jesus speaks of in the scripture, and as far as I know, that interpretation is not taught by the Church. I do admire, though, your devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Dear CB Catholic,

St. Louis de Montfort in His classic treatise True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin wrote:

1. The Holy Spirit speaking through the Fathers of the Church, also calls our Lady the Eastern Gate, through which the High Priest, Jesus Christ, enters and goes out into the world. Through this gate he entered the world the first time and through this same gate he will come the second time.

The Holy Spirit also calls her the Sanctuary of the Divinity, the Resting-Place of the Holy Spirit, the Throne of God, the City of God, the Altar of God, the Temple of God, the World of God. All these titles and expressions of praise are very real when related to the different wonders the Almighty worked in her and the graces which he bestowed on her. What wealth and what glory! What a joy and a privilege for us to enter and dwell in Mary, in whom almighty God has set up the throne of his supreme glory!

As I mentioned in the OP also the Church approved the Litany of Loreto in which we address Mary as “Gate of Heaven”.

My hearing in the words of Jesus a certain “connection” between the “narrow gate” and Mary is not really too different from what you said : "Jesus is referring to entering heaven by walking a narrow path of avoiding sin and temptation and the influence of the secular world, thus the gate would necessarily be narrow. "

The Church teaches that Mary is both our Mother and our Model. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 972, we read:

…In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own “pilgrimage of faith”, and what she will be in the homeland at the end of the journey…

I would encourage you to read paragraphs 963-975 in the Catechism to clarify any confusion on Mary’s role with regard to the Church. I certainly don’t want to be argumentative either. God reveals Himself in Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church, and we need to keep listening to those three sources of Revelation. Thanks for your reply.

 

[MariaChristi]

It is actually a beautiful, exceedingly orthodox theology. I highly recommend “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary” by St. Louis Marie de Montfort.

Dear R_ H_Benson,

Thanks for your comment, and your recommendation of St. Louis De Montfort’s “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary” . For those who have not read it, the online version can be read HERE. I hope St. Louis De Montfort will one day be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.

 

[MariaChristi]

I love her, but I am hesitant to ascribe to her something like being the “narrow gate” Jesus speaks of in the scripture, and as far as I know, that interpretation is not taught by the Church. I do admire, though, your devotion to the Blessed Mother.

Dear temperance,

Thanks for your reply and for your love of our Blessed Mother. Here is a hymn approved by the Church which refers to Mary in a similar way as I expressed:

Mary the dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;
Mary the gate, Christ the Heavenly Way!

Mary the root, Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!

Mary the wheat, Christ the Living Bread;
Mary the stem, Christ the Rose blood-red!

Mary the font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the cup, Christ the Saving Blood!

Mary the temple, Christ the temple’s Lord;
Mary the shrine, Christ the God adored!

Mary the beacon, Christ the Haven’s Rest;
Mary the mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!

Mary the mother, Christ the mother’s Son
By all things blest while endless ages run. Amen. (Underlining is mine)

“Mary the Dawn” was first published in 1949 under the pen name ‘Paul Cross’, believed to be a pseudonym for Fr. Justin Mulcahy, C.P. (1894-1981). A Passionist Priest from the St. Paul of the Cross Province, he studied at the Pius X School of Liturgical Music in New York and eventually earned a degree in Church Music from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Vatican. The haunting melody of Mary the Dawn is an adaptation of Gregorian Mode IV.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear:

487 What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ.

 

[fide]

Well, I think a more orthodox interpretation would be that Mary can help us get through the narrow gate:

“From day to day, from moment to moment, she increased so much this twofold plenitude that she attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace. So much so, that the Almighty made her the sole custodian of his treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces. She can now ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She can lead them along the narrow path to heaven and guide them through the narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, sceptre and crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that Son.”

(Saint Louis Marie de Montfort)

Yes, Mary can help us through the narrow gate, but it is also true at least in a certain sense, that Mary is that gate to beatitude, to heaven. As Scripture says,

2Cor 6:17 Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you,

and

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Rev 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Rev 21:24 By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it,
Rev 21:25 and its gates shall never be shut by day—and there shall be no night there;
Rev 21:26 they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
Rev 21:27 But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

We must pass through a gate that admits only purity and holiness. Mary is that gate; she alone, among human persons is the perfection of purity and holiness. It is not necessary that a person know this of Mary, or even have heard of Mary. God’s mercy makes salvation a matter of the heart, not of vocabulary, but objectively, there is a “filter” (purgatory) in front of the narrow gate (perfect holiness, whose name is Mary) open to the presence of God.

What is crucial for us as human persons is to seek perfect holiness! We must love God and seek the holiness He desires, whole-heartedly! Mary is the perfect model of perfect holiness in a human person, and thus to look to her as mother and model - and “gate” of entry - is true.

 

[MariaChristi]

Yes, Mary can help us through the narrow gate, but it is also true at least in a certain sense, that Mary is that gate to beatitude, to heaven. As Scripture says,

2Cor 6:17 Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you,

and

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Rev 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Rev 21:24 By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it,
Rev 21:25 and its gates shall never be shut by day—and there shall be no night there;
Rev 21:26 they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
Rev 21:27 But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

We must pass through a gate that admits only purity and holiness. Mary is that gate; she alone, among human persons is the perfection of purity and holiness. It is not necessary that a person know this of Mary, or even have heard of Mary. God’s mercy makes salvation a matter of the heart, not of vocabulary, but objectively, there is a “filter” (purgatory) in front of the narrow gate (perfect holiness, whose name is Mary) open to the presence of God.

What is crucial for us as human persons is to seek perfect holiness! We must love God and seek the holiness He desires, whole-heartedly! Mary is the perfect model of perfect holiness in a human person, and thus to look to her as mother and model - and “gate” of entry - is true.

Dear fide,

Thanks so very much for adding these beautiful scripture passages to this tread on Mary and the “narrow gate” of which Jesus spoke in Mt. 7:13 -14. How crucial it is for us to see in Mary the human perfection to which we are all called! Nothing is impossible with God; by God’s Grace each one of us can become holy as He has commanded us: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is Perfect”.

As you also pointed out, even if a person does not know about Mary, she is still praying for that person, even as we should be praying for all souls in most need of His Mercy. Our perfection is the perfection of Charity: To love whole-heartedly as Mary does!

Mary, Mother of the Church, Gate of Heaven, pray for us.
Jesus, we trust in You!