“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 24. Shall seek, and so forth Shall desire to be saved; but for want of taking sufficient pains, and not being thoroughly in earnest, shall not attain to it. Challoner.—Our Lord answers here in the affirmative: that is that the number of those who are saved, is very small, for a few only can enter by the narrow gate. Therefore does he say, according to Saint Matthew, (Calmet. 7) Narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that enter therein. This does not contradict what is said in the 8th chapter of Saint Matthew: That many shall come from the east, and sit down in the kingdom of God; for many indeed shall join the blessed company of the angels, but when considered with the number of the slain, they will appear but few. Saint Augustine ser. xxxii. de Verb. Dei.