Sr. Doreen, SSJD
The Anglican Church of Canada Calendar theme for the month of June. “ I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for – will freely go in and out and find pasture. (Message Translation)
There is something about the symbolism of an open gate that seems inviting, and as I pondered this, I thought how it often opens for us new beginnings, opportunities, and the freedom to move forward. It stirs our curiosity! It also can offer us a chance to reflect on the path ahead, shows us new potential and the chance to embrace new potential. Thinking of myself, my community and the world today, standing before an open gate can be like the start of a new chapter, a chance to pursue dreams, or a path toward a better future, the freedom to explore and overcome obstacles. It seems to me that this is what Jesus was trying to convey … going through that open gate we are promised that we will be cared for, and in that freedom and care we will find ‘pasture’ – rest, refreshment, new strength for the journey ahead.
John Masefield wrote a very long poem called “The Everlasting Mercy” – recalling a tale of a man whose journey through life was homeless, a drunken outcast, angry, violent and unrepentant in his ways. It is the story of someone who on the journey meets those who are repulsed by him and those who show him compassion and care. Eventually those whose compassion and care continually reaching out to him, overwhelmed him, brought him to self-knowledge and opened for him that gate into new life and the everlasting mercy and love of God. The following hymn is part of the poem of Everlasting Mercy – coming about two thirds of the way through the long poem. It is hymn #518 in the hymn book Common Praise of the Anglican Church of Canada.
O Christ who holds the open gate, O Christ who drives the furrow straight,
O Christ, the plough, O Christ the laughter of holy white birds flying after;
Lo, all my heart’s field red and torn, and thou wilt bring the young green corn,
the young green corn divinely springing, the young green corn for ever singing;
And when the field is fresh and fair thy blessed feet shall glitter there,
And we will walk the weeded field and tell the golden harvest’s yield.
The corn that makes the holy bread by which our hungering souls are fed,
The holy bread, the food unpriced, thy everlasting mercy, Christ.
As I read the poem The Everlasting Mercy by John Masefield, I began to think of how often sheep were trying to eat the grass that looked greener on the other side of the fence … I remember wandering over the fields in England when visiting one of the houses of the Order of Holy Paraclete Sisters in Whitby, fields that were dotted with sheep, and how often I found they had broken down the fence in their attempt to reach what looked like better grass. I smiled then and I smile now, they really are very much like ourselves, prone to wander in search of what seems better than what we have, in search of false hope and good intentions that can never really satisfy, trying to be self-sufficient, intent on doing all the good deeds, trying to convince ourselves that we’ve got it all together, more so than others around us. It sometimes makes me think that we feel or act, anyway, like we were in a cage! Penned in, we look for what is greener on the other side! And yet, Jesus continually whispers to us, “I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be cared for and will come in and go out and find pasture” (John 10:9). I was impressed by a comment in Diana Butler Bass’s book “Freeing Jesus”: “I am the gate, you were safe, saved, one of the flock. I never noticed the clause ‘will go in and out’ indicating that the gate might swing toward the world as well. Perhaps the spiritual life was not about finding the right box or a bigger cage, but wandering into pasture, following the light, crossing the bridge. Not hemmed in by walls, but walking in the open.”
As the Logos, the authentic template for reality, Jesus imprints the image and likeness of God on all things, on all people. The source of essential truth, oneness, goodness and beauty are held freely for everyone. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, another expression for this same “gatekeeping” role. This was one of Thomas Aquinas’ most important contributions. He placed the mystery of the Incarnation at the center, as the source and destination of all his ideas about the Christian life, and of how Jesus engages and transforms us, is one of us and how we meet God in each other. Jesus invites us on a walking journey. It is an invitation that if willingly embraced is the path of liberation: for all people, all of creation. This essential truth, oneness, goodness and beauty – this tenacious, inclusive, unconditional love of God is the gate that we can come out of and go into … and in embracing all this find the pasture, the rest, the refreshment, the strength. Our human nature has been opened to new life, abundant life in life with God, begun in us here and now, unfolding and active. This is our Easter faith. This is the joy of the Gospel. We have this gift to share.
Meister Eckhart wrote: “There is a journey you must take. It is a journey without destination. There is no map. Your soul will lead you. And you can take nothing with you.” There is no destination, only the command – love one another, that enveloping presence of love. The way of liberation – taking down the barriers, in union and solidarity with God and all of humanity, all of creation. I am the gate – go in and go out and find pasture: find God so deeply in the world that a real kin-dom is birthed: that has been my message: love one another. It is a radical message, and one that I believe we need to capture anew in our world today – it is the silent life-giving water, the spring of the Christian life. The focus is on love, and mercy; on God’s presence in us and with us, for all people and for all time. “I am the gate” is the song of the Universal Christ – inviting us to join the journey.
Perhaps it is not too strange to end with Revelation 22:11: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
O Christ who holds the open gate, O Christ who drives the furrow straight,
O Christ, the plough, O Christ the laughter of holy white birds flying after;
Lo, all my heart’s field red and torn, and thou wilt bring the young green corn,
the young green corn divinely springing, the young green corn for ever singing;
And when the field is fresh and fair thy blessed feet shall glitter there,
And we will walk the weeded field and tell the golden harvest’s yield.
The corn that makes the holy bread by which our hungering souls are fed,
The holy bread, the food unpriced, thy everlasting mercy, Christ.
