The venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen tells us that we will have three surprises in Heaven. The first surprise: We will be surprised to see that many people we expected to be in Heaven are not there. St. John of the Cross gives the reason why they are not there: “At the evening of our life, we shall be judged on how we have loved.” The second surprise: We will be surprised to see that the people we never expected to be in Heaven are there. That is because God judges man’s intentions and rewards them accordingly. The third surprise: We will be surprised to see that we are in Heaven! — Since our getting to Heaven is principally God’s work, we will be surprised that God somehow “went out of His way” to save us, simply because we showed the good will and generosity of cooperating with His grace. In today’s Gospel, Jesus answers the question, who will be saved, when, and how.
Enter the narrow gate. This is the gate of sacrifice, generosity, kindness, mercy and true love for each other.