Passkey to Heaven
Years ago when we travel around the country and stay in a hotel,
we used to get a physical key;
remember the big ole’ keys you would get!
With it we had access to get in to whatever room we were staying.
Sometimes, we would get a second key
to get into the outside of the building.
In some older hotels or motels, it is still that way today.
Until you check out, you have those keys.
Today they have a new system called the passkey;
it is a little plastic card key much like a credit card.
Wipe it through the lock and it opens up our door
and it even opens up the outside perimeter doors as well;
it opens up anything that we need to have access to
while you are staying in that hotel.
I did not know until recently is that the passkey only works
till a certain time and day designated, our check out time;
so if checkout is at 11:00 a.m., on August 31st,
the key works until 11:00 a.m. and at 11:01, it no longer works.
We cannot get into our room and we cannot get into the building.
So it is all electronically controlled.
I was fascinated by how well controlled these new keys work.
In Baptism, we all receive the key to eternal life.
We received the key to salvation.
Most of us as Catholic Christians believe
it is more like one of those hard, old-fashioned keys.
We have it and we can keep it forever;
we put it in our pocket and when we get to the narrow gate in heaven
it will open up the narrow gate and get in.
I’ve come to understand that our key to salvation is more like a passkey.
It can be deprogrammed at any time
or it can get demagnetized through some mistakes.
Or it can expire and time-out.
The question then that we have to ask ourselves is
what demagnetizes it,
or what causes us to get our passkey cancelled.
The Lord tells us today in the scripture reading
that he has given the keys to heaven to all
but that not all will get through that narrow gate,
because they have forgotten there is a responsibility to having the key.
That is a role that we are called to do as disciples
– to keeping the passkey active to eternal life.
For a lot of Catholic, and indeed Christians all around the world,
think that because they have a key to salvation,
then we have it and that’s it;
they can say and do anything they want.
I often wonder if they realize their key might have already been cancelled!
They don’t know that yet
—so when they go up to heaven they passkey wipes but won’t open!
I think we have to be very careful with our passkey to eternal life.
In today’s second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews,
it tells us what it is that keeps that key active.
It is called discipleship.
The root word for “discipleship” is the word discipline
that is used in today’s reading.
It requires of us to use discipline to be a disciple.
What do I mean by that?
The scripture tells us we must act like disciples.
We must be willing to do the good thing
and to say the right thing for the right reason.
In other words, we must act like Christians towards one another
to keep the key of salvation active.
What does that really mean for each of us?
It means different things for different people.
Some of us have great gifts and great potential
and so therefore, our challenge is much greater
because we must use those same gifts for a larger purpose.
Others of us who might be getting a little older
and we find that we cannot do all things we used to be able to do,
then we are judged according to our abilities of this time.
Yet there is still lots we can do.
We can still be kind.
We can still be generous with who you are as a human being.
All of us are called to get into that habit of being a Christian.
Before we make a good habit we probably need to practice the discipline, training ourselves in the ways of what we must do and what we must not do.
Sometimes we focus as Christians and Catholics in particular
—what will not get me in trouble; namely, what I must not do.
However, it might be what we fail to do
that is going to get our pass key cancelled;
we fail to be kind;
we fail to be forgiving;
we fail to think about others and to ask,
“Are you okay? Can I do something for you?
It looks like you are having a tough day or a tough week.
Is there something that I can do for you?”
we fail to care for the needy!
Today, we are reminded of our need for discipline in our discipleship.
We are reminded of our gift of eternal life
but are also reminded of acting and living like Christians
so that our key, our passkey to heaven does not get cancelled.
