Have you ever noticed how our Lord has a habit of not answering the question that people asked of him? When someone asked him: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He did not say anything about who will and will not be saved. Rather, he responded by telling the people to “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” This encounter with our Lord, actually describes one of the most significant differences between the Catholic Faith and most modern Protestant faiths, and what I believe to be Martin Luther’s most critical misstep.
Many ask this very same question: will I be saved? Or in another form, will my children be saved. And yet, when our Lord was given this question, as he also did with the young rich man, he boldly changed the question. To the young rich man, who eventually went away saddened because salvation was not enough, he told him that winning eternal life by being obedient to the Law and the Prophets was not enough, but that he desired the man to leave the life he was attached to, and to follow him. To put it another way, while the young man was worried about being united with God in the after life, Jesus wanted to be united with him in this life.
In responding to the question: will many be saved, our Lord is kind enough to redirect the listeners to the more important question. It is not simply about being saved one day, nor about what is required to receive eternal life. Do not worry over whether many or few will be saved, but strive for the narrow gate. That is, strive to know God in this life; to have a deeply intimate relationship with him now; to daily walk the Way that he has laid out and to follow him.
Through daily acts of charity, prayers in the morning, mid-day and evening, and practicing fasting and abstinence regularly, you strive toward the narrow gate. He does not want you to worry about whether or not you will be with him tomorrow, but desires to be with you today and every moment between now and the end of this life.