Yesterday we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday and today John's gospel continues with Jesus applying the image of the shepherd to himself. The sheep follow the shepherd, he says, because they know his voice. I am reminded of what I witnessed in rural Peru when each campesino would bring his few animals to a common paddock where they would be guarded as they grazed during day. In the late afternoon each owner would come and call his own animals and they would immediately come out to follow him home. Jesus tells us today that he is the gate of the sheepfold. It is through him that we enter the community of the church which is to be the kingdom of peace and unity on earth. Pope Francis tells us, ''The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open.'' (The Joy of the Gospel 47). That is the lesson that Peter was taught in today's first reading from Acts 11:1-18. He needed a special vision to overcome the general belief that the Good News of Jesus was only for Jewish people. ''I realized that God gave them the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus." We are called to be the gatekeepers welcoming all comers into the sheepfold of Jesus whatever their social or ethical background, sexual orientation or lifestyle. ''Holy Father, protect them so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:11).
Don Hornsey
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