MT 7:6, 12-
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.
“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.”st they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.“
Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.
"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.”
Dad often taught the same lesson to me and my four brothers and sister: life is not forever. You travel the roadway only once. Do all you can to make it a wide road...but be sure that you don't get pulled over for doing something wrong. When asked how wide it could be, he replied only as wide as good things, moments and achievements would allow. I do not recall that any of us ended up in a police station or caught cheating on a test.
While seminary life and priesthood do not necessarily guarantee freedom from what we can call wrong or sinful, it did help all of us to seriously consider the values that are consistent in every state of life.
Living a life on the straight and narrow has to be a challenge to everyone. For those not blessed with seminary or convent life, life is never easy. How easy it might be to allow personal preferences separate us from our God as well as our families.
For all us, regardless of vocation, prayer is so necessary. Time with God each day is the vitamin tablet that gives us the strength and courage to say "no" when "no" is the correct answer.
