The Narrow Gate

Intrate per angustam portam... Hic ultimo inducit profectum virtutis quoad seipsum: quia enim aliquis diceret: omnia gravia sunt, quae imperas: Ideo dicit, quod hoc verum est: quia per angustam portam oportet ingredi ad vitam. Tangit enim duo, primo ponit admonitionem; et secundo inducit suae admonitionis rationem. Ibi in admonitione tria sunt notanda, scilicet, quae fit porta, qualiter angusta, et qualis introitus. Porta autem est hic introitus ad vitam, sicut inferius dicetur: et multiplicatur porta, scilicet, introitus ad vitam. Est autem introitus ad vitam redemptionis Ecclesiae: et est introitus ad vitam gratiae: et est introitus ad vitam gloriae. Et primus quidem introitus duplex est, unus est, per Christum redimentem: et alter per Sacramenta, per quae gratiam redemptionis accipemus. Primo modo dicitur secundum quandam glossa: Christus porta. Ego sum ostium: per me si quis introierit, salvabitur. Secundo modo vulnus lateris, ex quo fluxerunt Sacramenta, aqua expiationis et sanguis redemptionis, dicitur porta: unde glossa dicit Quid angustius illo foramine, quod lancea militis fecit in latere Christi: per quod tamen fere totus intravit mundus: Haec porta Domini: iusti intrabunt per eam. Ad vitam autem gratiae non intravit nisi per portam virtutis: de qua in Psalm Aperite mihi portas iustitiae. Non est hic aliud nisi domus Dei, et porta caeli. Erit Dominus fortitudo revertentibus de bello ad portam. Introitus autem iste in vitam gratiae specialiter est per charitatem: et ideo charitas dicitur porta. Haec est enim porta orientalis, per quam oriens ex alto Princeps Iesus ad nos ingressus est, et per quam etiam egressus est in coelum, et clausa omnibus non pertinentibus ad membra corporis eius: nec unquam alicui nisi sibi in intregritate membrorum suorum aperietur. Porta orientlis clausa est, et non aperitetur: quia Dominis Deus Israel ingressus est per eam: eritque clausa Principi. Haec dicitur arcta. Angustum enim est inimicos diligere, nullum iudicare, ad unum contendere, nil nisi Christum amare, et huiusmodi. Introitus autem ad gloriam est per portam perserverantiae, quae datur in fine ominum bonorum ad viam pertinentium: et inchoatur a principio, eorum in propositi permanendi cum Christo. Et haec est porta, de qua dicitur in Psalm: Beatus vir qui implevit desiderum suum ex ipsis: non confundetur, cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta. Omnes istae portae angustae sunt valde: ita quod foramini acus comparantur. Sed litera specialiter videtur intelligi de porta virtutus, et antonomastice de porta charitatis: et per effectum intradnai, de porta perseverantiae. unde forte melius, dicitur, quod porta est virtus: apertura, charitas: introductio, perserverantia: Nobilis in portis vir eius, quando sederit cum senatoribus terrae. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Mattheum, Caput VII Source: Here

Enter through the narrow gate... 1 Here finally He announces the progress of virtue, as far as it may go, because indeed someone might say: 'All these things are difficult which you command,' and therefore He says 'That indeed is true, because to enter into life one must go through the narrow gate.' This touches on two things, first He gives warning and secondly He brings forth the reason for the warning. In the warning three things should be noted, that is, what the gate is, how narrow it is, and the manner of entry. This gate is the entry to life, which is afterward said, and then the gate is manifold, that is, for entry into life. For it is an entry to the life of redemption of the Church, and it is an entry to the life of grace, and it is an entry to the life of glory. And the first entry is twofold, one is through Christ the Redeemer, and another through the Sacraments, through which we receive the life of redemption. In the first way it is said according to a certain gloss: 'Christ is the gate.' 'I am the door, if a man enters through me, he shall be saved.' 2 The second is in the way of the wound to the side, from which flowed the Sacraments, the water of expiation and the blood of redemption, which is called a gate, whence the gloss says: 'Narrower than that hole the soldier made with his spear in the side of Christ,' 3 through which, however, nearly all the world may enter. 'This is the gate of the Lord: the righteous shall enter through it.' 4 For to the life of grace no one enters unless through the gate of virtue, concerning which it says in the Psalm: 'Open to me the gates of righteousness.' 5 'This is nothing but the house of God and the gate of heaven.' 6 'The Lord is strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.' 7 For this entry into the life of grace is especially by love, and therefore the gate is called love, and this is the gate which faces east, through which, rising in the east from on high, the prince Jesus enters into us, and through which He goes out to heaven, and it is closed to all who are not parts of the members of His body. It is not open to just anyone, but only to him who is one of His healthy members, 'The east facing gate is closed and it shall not be opened, because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it, and it shall remained closed.' 8 This is the narrow gate. Hard it is to love enemies, not to judge, to strive for one, to love nothing but Christ, and so on. The entry to glory is through the gate of perseverance, which is given in the end of all goods to the way of those who hold to it. And it begins from their beginning, in the proposition that one will remain with Christ. And this is the gate, concerning which it is said in the Psalm: 'Blessed the man who fulfills his desire from it, he shall not be confounded when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.' 9 All these gates are very narrow, thus they are compared to the eye of a needle. But by the letter especially it seems to be understood of the gate of virtue, and by antonomasia of the gate of love, and by achievement of entry by the gate of perseverance. Whence perhaps better it is said that the gate is virtue, the opening charity, and the entry perseverance. 'A noble one in the gates is her man, when he sits among the elders of the land.' 10 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 7 1 Mt 7.13 2 Jn 10.7 3 Jn 19.34 4 Ps 117.20 5 Ps 117.19 6 Gen 28.17 7 Isaiah 28.6 8 Ezek 44.1-2 9 Ps 126.5 10 Prov 31.23