Going in through the gate: Reflection for Monday, May 12, 2025

How often do we find ourselves climbing over the fence instead of going through the gate? Jesus tells us clearly that he is the sheep gate. But sometimes we don’t like what he says or wants us to do, and so we climb the fence. Readings for Today.

Going in through the gate

Do you chafe at being told what to do? Do you find it hard to follow rules just because they are rules that you do not set? There are small ways this can be true. The doctor tells us to lose weight and to exercise. The dentist wants us to floss each day. We know we should, but we don’t.

There are times when a teacher assigns homework but there are some students who do not do their homework. Maybe we were those students. Now sometimes the homework can seem unconnected to success, but often we would rather do something else.

There is a saying, often spoken to teenagers that nothing good happens after midnight. And there is some truth to this. And yet, there are teenagers who stay out past midnight just because they are told not to do so.

Our faith can be like this too. We can sin simply because Jesus forbids an action to us. Saint Paul writes about this when he says he struggles with seeing the good he wants to do but doing the bad he does not want to do.

Saint Thomas Aquinas says that in every choice we make, we perceive a good. We can see something that appears good to us. But sometimes, usually under the cloud of temptation and sin, we cannot see the true good. We choose what seems good to us only to see that it is not good to us.

If we are filled with grace, the realization we have chosen something we thought was good but was not, leads us to repentance. We go to Confession and we confess to God and the Church what it is we have done. We seek the forgiveness and healing of Jesus.

Now of course, the message of Jesus in the gospel refers to himself. He is the good shepherd who enters through the gate. But I see the gate as the Church itself. It is only Jesus who can open the gate. And it is only Jesus who can ultimately protect us from the thieves and marauders who seek to take us astray.

We are to see the Christian life as one of discernment. We need to see clearly the difference between the true goods of God, and those false, deceptive things that are only appearing to be good. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit because it only appeared to be good. Jesus chose to die on the Cross because it was good, even though it appeared bad.

We see this importance of discernment in the first reading. There was quite the controversy in the early Christian Church about what to do with Gentiles who were converting. Remember that all of the apostles, and many of the early converts were Jewish. And the Jewish law was what we today might call an identity marker.

That is, by following the Jewish Law, the conditions would be right for the Messiah to arrive. And the Messiah was longed for by the Jews for centuries. But when the Jews were faithful to the Law, it was then they would see the Messiah arrive. But their discernment was not so great.

Because, they missed the coming of the Messiah in that they did not recognize him. They did not see Jesus as the Messiah, in large measure because they were looking for the wrong type of Messiah. Rather than slavishly following the Law, they needed to see Jesus as fulfilling the Law.

But when the Gentiles were seeking to become followers of Jesus, it presented a problem. By becoming Christians did they first have to live like the Jewish people? That is, did the men need to be circumcised, and did their diets need to change?

After Pentecost, Peter was attentive, because of the descent of the Holy Spirit to the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life. He was able to discern because he knew what the Spirit looked like, so to speak.

Do you have a spirit of discernment? Do you seek to find the presence of God in your life, even when what God reveals may seem hard to believe? Peter’s discernment was hard because in his life, being an observant Jew was important. But following Jesus and leading the Church was more important.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update. You can subscribe to our podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

About Author