Daily Retreat 05/08/06

2006 May 8 Mon: Easter Weekday

Acts 11: 1-18/ Ps 41(42): 2-3; 43: 3-4/ Jn 10: 1-10

From today’s readings: "God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.... I will go in to the altar of God, the God of my gladness and joy.... Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep...."

The Gate

Not content with just reading an excerpt from Chapter Ten of John on "Good Shepherd Sunday," the Church looks more in depth this week at the Lord’s extended metaphor about the sheepfold and the Good Shepherd. Interestingly, Jesus also calls Himself, not just the Shepherd, but also the "gate for the sheep.... Whoever enters through Me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly!"

In general, gates are designed to keep bad things out, and good things in. Gates are positioned front and center (or at least the main gates are), allowing for clear access and optimal visibility. So Jesus is the gate to Truth, because in His teaching, He always took care to be clear and accessible, so that by following Him, everyone could be enclosed in the fullness of truth and virtue, and keep sin and error out!

But instead of entering through the Gate of Christ to the fullness of Truth, some claim to have access to Truth through stealth or occult means, or some secret "back door." Such people may even study a sampling of Christ’s teachings, and then somehow presume that they know better than Jesus, or, at least that they know better than the Body of Christ, which is the Church!

Others, unwilling to enter the fullness of the Truth, attempt to just sit on the fence. Even if they profess to recognize Jesus as the source of Truth, they hedge on a full commitment when it comes to leaving behind ALL sin and error which, as Jesus insists, has no place in the Christian sheepfold.

Still others, finding the Gate of Christ solidly shut to their own misconstrued ideas of Truth, futilely attempt to undermine the solid wall of Christ’s teachings.

But remember, there’s a reason for every gate - it was erected specifically to keep the bad out, and the good in, and so that when one is ready to enter, one doesn’t have to steal in furtively, or sit on the fence, or dig through dirt in vainly attempting to undermine the whole wall.

True, on the day of our baptism, all of us Christians decided to enter fully the Gate of Christ. But ultimately, we’re not locked in - every temptation is a crisis which forces us to either re-commit to stay in Christ’s sheepfold by following His lead, or to go off on our own, to our own peril!

The Good Shepherd stands as the Gate, first calling His sheep lovingly by name to stay close by Him, then clearly warning those who start to stray. But still, some sheep insist on rejecting Christ’s voice, running away from Him and thereby tragically treating the Good Shepherd and Guardian of souls like a stranger! Yet elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus insisted that He diligently seeks out even those sheep who have strayed....

So, there’s a few questions for you and me today: Where are we grazing in relation to the Gate of Christ? Are we fully in His flock, entirely out of it, or just trying to sit on the fence? Do we recognize Him as the one Gate to the fullness of Truth, or are we yet looking for an easier way? Do we follow the Good Shepherd obediently, or have we decided to fend for ourselves by going in a direction He’s warned us not to take? Are we sheep that have finally found the Good Shepherd because He indeed has sought us and found us? Or are we sheep still even partially straying, perilously exposing ourselves to wolves and thieves who steal and slaughter and destroy - lost sheep, while the whole found flock is praying, and Jesus Himself stands ready to open to the fullness of Truth and complete safety, because as He said, "I am the gate. Whoever enters through Me will be saved...."