4th Sunday in Easter (A)

I am the gate JOHN 10:1–10

by Jemma Redman

Today’s mediation is so comforting. We are told repeatedly in the gospel reading that we have a Shepherd and He is the gate of the sheepfold. We have been given a sense of belonging, a sense of identity, a sense of direction.

We are not alone, we are not lost, and, as He promised us in Psalm 23, He is our Shepherd and we shall not want for anything.

He is the gate, and when we go through that gate, we are in a protected environment, where we are taken care of.  In that sheepfold…He MAKES us to lie down in green pastures (where we will have no lack); He LEADS us beside the still waters (He gives us peace, calm assurance; He is our comfort); He RESTORES our soul (if we feel broken, torn apart, hurting, used and misused….) He brings us back to wholeness, as only He can. He LEADS us in paths of righteousness… (If we go astray, from His commandments and statutes, He leads us back).

In order to derive these benefits, we must be sheep, we must be obedient, humble, submit our will to His Will, take up our cross and follow Him. He wants us to trust Him and depend on Him and not on ourselves, or else we are none of His.

The sheep know His voice. This meditation today calls us to utter surrender, utter submission.

He is the GATE, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no-one comes to the Father except by Him. In the sheepfold, you cannot serve two masters, it calls for a life of surrender, and a relationship with God, so we can be partakers of these many blessings.

In these uncertain times, we need a Shepherd to guide, provide for, and comfort us, or else we will be lost.  What better time than now, to use all that God has offered us, to improve our personal relationship with Him, the Shepherd of our souls?

Spend more of your time in prayer, in worship, feed on the Masses and homilies, spend time reading the Word of God and meditating on it and applying it to our daily lives.

The Book of Isaiah 25:4 gives us a wonderful Word: “For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat…”.

That is His promise to us when we are in the sheepfold. Enter the gate.

Brothers and sisters, keep safe and well and keep our eyes on the Good Shepherd Jesus, who has come to give us life, not death and to give us more abundantly. Amen.

The gospel meditations for May are by Jemma Redman, founder of Spirit Global, a spiritual support non-governmental organisation called ‘to walk with men and women’. She is the Artistic Director of The Drama Ministry for the Southern Vicariate, and for St Mary Magdalene RC Church, Houston, Texas. She is happily married for 35 years.