Monday of the Fourth
Week of Easter
(Acts 11:1-18; John 10:1-10)
Blessed John Henry
Newman understood how logical argument seldom moves anyone to belief. Most often, he wrote, belief is catalyzed by “informal
inference,” which is feeling, intuition, or unconscious motivation. Jesus certainly understood the need for
non-rational motivation as he preached with vibrant images like the “good
shepherd” and, what we hear today, the “gatekeeper.”
Sometimes preachers try to explain the roles of “good
shepherd” and “gatekeeper” as the same, but the attempt is in vain. Jesus uses both images to indicate the
different ways in which he ministers to us.
In the discourse which begins in today’s gospel he will call himself the
“good shepherd,” the one who lays his life down for his sheep. But now he refers to himself as the “gatekeeper”
or “gate” with two functions. First, he only
lets those shepherds whom he calls – people like Pope Francis – to care for his
sheep. And second, he also allows the sheep
to go to pasture when it is safe and under his watchful eye.
Very few of us live in bucolic society, and even if we did,
shepherding is not the same as it was in Jesus’ time. Yet these images still resonate with us. We know that many wander through life without
much sense of its purpose. Those who manage
to clarify a goal sometimes get helplessly sidetracked. Accepting Jesus as our keeper and shepherd we
will be saved from becoming lost.
