What is the only Way to salvation?

The Path to salvation is a narrow one, which few people find. This Way is symbolically represented by a mountain road, which starts at the base of the mountain and goes to its summit. To enter it, we must first give up everything we have and our own lives, which means that to be able to enter this Way and start walking on it, we must have given up everything and be delivered from sin.

Once we enter this Way, we must now take up our cross, and climb to the top of the Mountain by crucifying our old man (our sinful nature), in order to meet the Lord (who is waiting for us and calling us to the top of the Mountain), so that He can clothe us with the new man, created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (His nature).

The stripping away of our old man is much deeper than most believers think. It is the image of what Jesus did in the desert, when he resisted all kinds of temptations, and overcame everything. In the same way, after leaving everything behind, we must set ourselves apart, isolate ourselves in the presence of God, and divest ourselves of the flesh and its desires.

During this period of stripping, we must not only resist temptation regarding all that we have thrown up, but also crucify our sinful nature, doing violence to fast, to bend our knees and to pray that God will strip us of our nature. And without going too fast, so as not to fall, we must do this more and more each day, progressively, because this is how we will strip our old man and his desires. By going against ourselves, against the will of our flesh, which wants to eat, which wants to drink, which wants to sleep and still do a whole lot of things.

It is therefore necessary to strip ourselves progressively in his presence, starting by fasting and praying for one day, then two, then three, and not regressing or giving up. The important thing is not to go quickly, but to advance in this stripping, and to do it out of Love for those we want to see saved afterwards. For we do it by faith, faith that God can do it in us because he is Almighty, and by charity, offering our lives for those we love, and for the Church of Christ. For there is no greater charity than to lay down your life for your friends.

So we must do this by faith and love, while praying daily that God will strip us of our sinful nature, our old man, and fill us more and more with His Spirit and all His virtues. We must pray to him every day that he will give us the ability to strip ourselves a little more the next day, and to do violence to ourselves to take the first step every day and to bend the knee. And if we don't have the capacity to do more than the day before, then we must try to do as much as the day before, so that we don't regress.

The purpose is that we should come to the top of this Mountain, to meet the Lord, who will clothe us with his nature, that we may become new creatures; and so we may enter into the good works which have been prepared beforehand, that we may walk in them; we may do the works of Christ, for the Lord says: He that believeth in me shall do the works that I do, and greater works than these shall he do. 

It is therefore out of Love, so that we may become instruments in the hands of God; that we may become vessels of honour, sanctified, useful to the Lord and prepared for every good work; so that we may save as many people as possible; that we give up our lives and offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; and it is obvious that in order to be able to live it, we must first have given up everything. As the Lord says:

Luke 14:25 Now great multitudes went with him; and he turning to them said, 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. 28 But who is he among you who, when he would build a tower, does not first take his seat and see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Lest, when he has laid the foundation and has not been able to complete it, all who see him begin to make fun of him, 30 saying, This man began to build and has not been able to complete it. 31 Or who is the king who goes out to fight against another king, and does not first take his seat and see if he is able with ten thousand men to go against him who is coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Otherwise he sends him an embassy while he is still far away and asks for peace. 33 So then, each of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

This passage confirms that it is only after we have renounced everything that we can begin to carry our cross, that is, to crucify our old man, and to follow Jesus on the Way of salvation. Therefore, we must examine God's will, God's call, and make our choice: do we really want to follow Jesus, or not? Are we ready to give up everything to follow him and go all the way, without looking back? Or are we like the other believers, who call themselves Christ's, and call Him: Lord! Lord! but who do not do His will and whom God will reject? Let us never forget that there are many called, but few chosen.

Luke 9:57 And it came to pass, as they went along the way, that a certain man said unto him, I will follow thee, Lord, whithersoever thou goest. 58 But Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath no place to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me: and he said, Let me first go and bury my father. 60 And Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead; but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. 61 Another said to him, 'Lord, I will follow you; but let me first take leave of those who are in my house. 62 But Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Let us remember the words of Jesus, who tells us that whoever wants to save his life, that is to say, to keep it and live according to his own pleasure, will lose it, but whoever gives up his life for the Love of Christ and the Gospel, will save it:

Mark 8:34 Then having called the troops and his Disciples, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for my sake and the gospel's, he will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he makes the loss of his own soul?

1 John 3:16 By this we know charity, that he laid down his life for us; therefore we also ought to lay down our lives for our brethren.

John 15:13 No one has greater love than this, [namely], when someone lays down his life for his friends.