Since Vatican II we refer to the 4th Sunday of
Easter as Good Shepherd Sunday. Two out of three years of our cycle of
Scripture readings, we read of Our Lord saying to his audience in the Gospels
“I am the Good Shepherd”. His pronouncement certainly evokes images of shepherds
watching over, feeding, teaching, and loving his flock. I always think of an
image from my childhood of Jesus carrying the baby lamb in his arms. The good
shepherds of Scripture patiently care for their flock, leading them to safe
pastures, pulling them out of thorn bushes when they foolishly stray into
trouble.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd—he knows us…intimately! And as we
spend time under his care, guidance and
protection, we begin to recognize his voice amidst all the conflicting noises
and voices of the world. Wonderful.
Every, third year, however, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear
a slightly different message, a slightly different image. Before the Lord
identifies himself has the Good Shepherd, he first explains, as we heard in the
Gospel today, that he is the gate for his sheep. “I am the gate.” He says.
Well, what is the purpose of a gate? For one, the gate is an
entry point. “I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.” Our Lord
himself is the gate to salvation. He is the open door through which we enter
into salvation and good pasture and the life of God. His identification to be
the gate, is very similar to his self-identification later in John’s Gospel
when he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the
Father except through me.”
How do we enter through the gate of Christ? Through faith.
Right belief and right practice. Faith is the doorway to salvation Our Lord
opened for us through his death and resurrection. Back in 2011, in the seventh
and final full year of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI ushered in a special
“Year of Faith” with a document called “Porta Fidei” the door of faith, the
gate of faith. The gate of faith, the holy Father writes, “is always open for
us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his
Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is
proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To
enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It
begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father,
and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy
Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22).”
What a beautiful image, through faith, through baptism we
enter through Christ the gate into the life of God, into the divine life which
begins now in this earthly life and endures into eternity.
There is another purpose for gates alluded to by the Lord in
the Gospel today. Gates keep-out robbers and thieves. Gates stop those people,
those ideas and beliefs, those attitudes and actions, which deprive us of the
life of God. When the Jesus Christ is king and Shepherd of your life, he acts
as a sort of gate which protects us from evil in the world which seeks to enter
our minds and hearts and rob us of the peace and joy and life of Christ.
The truth of Jesus Christ and that of his Church filters and
protects us from the lies and heresies promulgated by the devil throughout the
world, lies and heresies which cause division in the Church, ruin to souls and
our separation from communion with God. The truth of Jesus Christ enables us to
discern right from wrong—fallacy from veracity—when we come across it in the
media, in propaganda, or from false shepherds.
This image of a gate, a Christian filter, is a important for
the moral life as well. Often in the confessional, I’ll hear sins confessed
like gossip, you know, speaking things about others which we have no business talking
about, or saying hurtful, cutting, or cruel things to our loved ones or
strangers when we become angry. Sins of the mouth, right? sins of speech. And I
often give the following advice, I say, Christ must always preside over our
speech. We need to have a Christian filter of our words. Before we say
anything, ever, we must discern, is it true, is it kind, is it necessary, would
Christ say these words? As Peter writes in today’s second reading, “He
committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted,
he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten” And so must we.
Part of the Christian life is developing that filter of
saying only what builds others up, what is for the sake of the Gospel. Is it
true, is it kind, is it necessary? It sounds like a lot of work, but as you
develop this filter, this virtue, it becomes easier and easier.
One of my favorite parts of the Mass, is right before the
proclamation of the Gospel, we sign ourselves, don’t we, on our foreheads, our
mouths, and on our breast, a simple, yet profound gesture. I was always taught
to offer a little prayer at that point, to say something like, May the Lord be
always in my thoughts, on my lips, and in my heart. We pray, at the point in
the mass, that the gates of our minds might be opened to received and
contemplate and understand the Gospel message, that our lips might be open to
later go out and proclaim the Gospel message, and that our hearts might be open
to love and live the Gospel message. But also, we are asking the Lord to keep
from our minds, and lips, and hearts, any lies or heresies which might be
contrary to his Gospel truth; we are asking Him to serve as a Gate and as
Gatekeeper.
So, may the Lord preside over our thoughts, words, and deeds
this day. May nothing which is impure pass through our eyes or ears or through
our lips. May he save us from the corruption of this generation, and lead us to
eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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