NAR ROW GATE
Casey the Evangelist
Dr. Donald Wallenfang
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
Have you ever felt like a failure? Have
you ever felt like you don’t measure up
to other people’s expectations, including
your own? Have you ever felt as if you
struck out and let everyone down? The
truth is that each one of us, like Casey,
has struck out, in big ways and small.
This is the perennial truth that Ernest
Lawrence Thayer captures in his famed
poem, “Casey at the Bat.” Whether miss-
ing the shot, spilling the milk, or forget-
ting to follow through, I have struck out.
Inasmuch as “all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God” (Rm 3:23) , each
one of us has struck out in the bottom of
the ninth inning, with two outs, and the
bases loaded. We have sinned against one
another and against our God, and this is
the worst kind of strikeout possible. Yet,
we might wonder along with Casey, are
we still lovable? Is perfect love condition-
al or unconditional? Are Casey, you and
I just as lovable, even though we struck
out in the final inning and lost the game?
Or, would we be loved more had we never
struck out and only hit home runs?
“See what love the Father has bestowed
on us that we may be called the children
of God. Yet so we are.” (1 Jn 3:1) Casey is
a child of God, and so are you, by way of
adoption: “In love he destined us for adop-
tion (huiothesía) to himself through Jesus
4
Christ, in accord with the favor of his will,
for the praise of the glory of his grace that
he granted us in the beloved” (Eph 1:5–6) .
We struck out, but God loved us anyway
—a love given in advance as forgiveness.
This is the good news of Jesus Christ: I
am a beloved child of God the Father!
There is nothing I could do to make him
love me more. There is nothing I could
do to make him love me less. This is the
essence of the unconditional Love, who
is God the Holy Spirit. Through the eter-
nal Son of God become man—Jesus the
Christ—we have become partakers of the
divine nature (2 Pt 1:4) by the power of the
Holy Spirit at work within us (Eph 3:20) .
Nevertheless, the Father’s merciful gift
of salvation offered to us in Son–Word
and Spirit–Breath must be received free-
ly by us if it is to complete its gracious
circuit. Two biblical texts indicate the
nature of this reception: “Amen, I say
to you, unless you turn and become like
children, you will not enter the kingdom
of heaven” (Mt 18:3) and “Enter through
the narrow gate…How narrow the gate
and constricted the road that leads to
life. And those who find it are few.” (Mt
7:13–14) Let us begin with the second of
these texts.
Jesus portrays salvation as a narrow
gate and a constricted, hard road that
Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Winter 2020
leads to life (zoé). He says that this road is
found by few (olígoi), in comparison with
the many (polloí) who careen as a herd
down the wide and easy road that leads
to perdition (apóleia, also translated as
“hell”). The narrow gate and constricted
road are found by few in number (olígoi),
but also by those small in stature (olígos/
mikrós): “Amen, I say to you, unless you
turn (strépho) and become like children
(paidía), you will not enter the kingdom
of heaven.” (Mt 18:3)
In other words, in order to enter
through the narrow gate into the kingdom
of heaven, you must turn and become
like a child—the child you are as a son
or daughter of God by way of baptismal
adoption. We find (heurísko) the narrow
gate and the constricted way to the mea-
sure that we let ourselves (fiat) be found
by God, our merciful Father: “If one loves
God, one is known by him.” (1 Cor 8:3)
Such beautiful and good truths lead us
to the missionary task of evangelization.
With burning hearts (Lk 24:32) , hoping
against hope (Rm 4:18) , we proclaim the in-
vincible message that “those who are led
by the Spirit of God are children of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you received a
spirit of adoption, through which we cry,
‘Abba, Father!’” (Rm 8:14–15)