4th Sunday of Easter 2026 - "I am the Gate"

 

Since the reform of the liturgical calendar we have often refered to the 4^th Sunday of Easter as Good Shepherd Sunday. For. two out of three years of the Lectionary cycle on the 4^th Sunday of Easter we read Gospel passage for Our Lord claiming “I am the Good Shepherd”.

Like a shepherd, the Lord watches over, feeds, and cares for his flock. The good shepherds of Scripture patiently care for their flocks, leading them to safe pastures, pulling them out of thorn bushes when they foolishly stray into trouble. Jesus is the Good Shepherd—the best shepherd.

But we didn’t hear this Gospel passage this year, did we? For, every third year, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear a slightly different message, a slightly different image. “I am the gate for the sheep,” He says.

Perhaps not as intimate of an image as a loving tender shepherd, but certainly an important one. 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 is the gate to salvation. He is the open door through which we enter into salvation and the good pasture of the Church and the life of God.

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).”

The gate of faith is a powerful image reminding us of our ultimate goal. Yes, the Lord loves us and cares for us in this life, but the purpose of faith, the goal of faith, the destination of our faith, is heaven. And it is through Christ, the Gate, the way, the truth, the life, that leads to heaven, "one one comes to the Father except through" Him. 

There is another purpose for gates alluded to by the Lord in the Gospel today. Gates keep-out robbers and thieves. Gates guard us, they protect us from those who wish us ill.

In the spiritual life, there are certainly those who wish us ill. The world, the devil, and the flesh, lead us away from Communion with God—away from the peace and joy of the Spirit. When Jesus Christ is the gate of your life, he protects you from all that would rob us of the peace and joy and life of 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. The truth of Jesus Christ protects us from the lies and heresies promulgated by the devil which bring ruin to souls and division in the Church. When Christ the Truth is our gate, all ideas and opinions must pass through Him—and if they don’t pass the Truth-Test, they can be rejected. This includes temptation—temptation is the lie that we’ll be happy if we sin. But when Christ is our Gate—the empty promise of sin which brings us ruin can be identified and rejected.

When we do fall into temptation, there wasn’t a problem with the gate, it’s us who ignore all of the warning signs, and complicitly welcome those robbers and thieves into our souls.

The Christian life entails strengthening our relationship with Christ the Gate—developing a Christian filter for our choices and words.

Is Christ the gate of your speech? The words you use, the conversation you engage in, the texts you send, the internet posts you make?

We commit sins of speech when we fail to make Christ the Gate of our speech. The Catechism lists a number of sins of speech and communication, which are often sins against the 8^th commandment. The sin of bearing false witness and perjury. The sin of rash judgment, which assumes the moral fault of a neighbor without sufficient foundation; The sin of calumny involves spreading lies. The sin of detraction is when we disclose another's faults and failing to persons who did not know them and have no business knowing them, without objectively valid reasons. In other words, damaging a person’s good name without sufficient reason, even if told in confidence.

Due to social media, we see detraction and calumny, lies and unverified facts flowing like never before. Cyber-bullying, too, is rampant in many social groups, and has terrible effects on mental health for our young people. Many Catholics have fallen into the lax discipline over speech that plagues our modern world. Carelessness, cruelty, rash judgment, impatient grumbling and complaining.

The Christian life entails, putting on the mind of Christ, putting on the heart of Christ, and putting on the mouth of Christ, saying only what builds others up, leads them to truth, what is for the sake of the Gospel. Is it true, is it kind, is it necessary? “Is it true, is it kind, is it necessary”? Every word, every thought, every internet post, every text message, needs to pass through that filter. 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. 

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 or into our heart. May he guard us from the corruption of this generation and lead us to eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Sunday of Easter 2020 - I am the gate

Since Vatican II we refer to the 4^th 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.