Saint Leonard of Port Maurice (1676 – 1751) answers,
What did Our Lord answer the curious man in the Gospel who asked Him, “Lord, is it only a few to be saved?” Did He keep silence? Did He answer haltingly? Did He conceal His thought for fear of frightening the crowd? No. Questioned by only one, He addresses all of those present. He says to them: “You ask Me if there are only few who are saved?” Here is My answer: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Who is speaking here? It is the Son of God, Eternal Truth, who on another occasion says even more clearly, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” He does not say that all are called and that out of all men, few are chosen, but that many are called; which means, as Saint Gregory explains, that out of all men, many are called to the True Faith, but out of them few are saved. Brothers, these are the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Are they clear? They are true. Tell me now if it is possible for you to have faith in your heart and not tremble.
To live in the world and to despise the pleasures of this world is very difficult. The good things in life, riches, honors, pleasures, are not entirely forbidden to Christians, but only the love of them. We must persevere in faith, hope, and charity.
Christ calls us to perfection. “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”[1] Can we be perfect? Most would say no, but why would Christ set a goal for us that is unreachable?
We must understand the definition of perfection, “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? How do you read?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered right; do this, and you will live.’”[2]
He who loves God fulfills the precepts, which relate to the first tablet of the law, the Ten Commandments; and he who loves his neighbor fulfills all the commandments, which relate to the second.
At the same time, He also wished to teach us what virtues are necessary to attain perfect justice. “For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”[3]
[1] Ibid, 5:48.
[2] Luke 10:25-28.
[3] 1 Cor. 13:9-13.