The Spiritual Bowl! Which side is yours?

The Spiritual Bowl!  Which side is yours?

As we prepare to visit the stadium of events and cheer for those who were supposed to carry the torch of Righteousness, our colors that indicate who we expect to win are red for valor and white for honor.

What makes this victory a final decision will be the voices of visitors who carry a passing card that allows us to move around as the followers of the Champion Quarterback who is to make the commands that will place us in the right cheering section.  

This passing card that we all will carry was given to us at our Baptism into the faith of our choice.  The quarterback that accepted our choice is Christ who continued to nurture our faith through the Holy Spirit.  Every time the demons of evil repute were able to influence our choice without a cheering section to guide us, the quarterback would step in and remind us of the calls and answers we received at baptism.  “What is it you want?”  “Faith” will be our answer.  

We also noticed that the stadium is divided in two sections and the side we found ourselves in has a lot of empty seating, just waiting for more of our friends and relatives who might have gone through the turnstiles and followed the large crowd down darkened hallways with no way out  In addition we noticed the hallway we entered was narrow allowing only a few at a time to get through.  The other side appeared to have a very wide entrance and there were a lot of people choosing to go that way.  

Can this really be the scenario that Jesus spoke about to his disciples when he said, “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.”  (Mt 7: 13 - 14).

While waiting for the game to begin and viewing the program the words that we could understand said, “This is the final gathering of souls who have chosen the path of Righteousness and are receiving their reward  of eternal grace that will open the gate into paradise.

Next we heard the quarterback say to his team mates; “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!”  (Mt 23: 37).

When the team began its move down to the goal there was silence as we all saw in place of a goal post was a cross that seemed to express this is the salvation of all you who chose the narrow path to eternal life. 

Ralph B. Hathaway