Fourth Sunday of Easter. May 7, 2017 [John 10:1-10]

 “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (Joh 10:1)”

Jesus is not the gatekeeper, but Jesus is the gate Himself. A gate or a door gives a passage or access to a sheepfold, a house, a building or a room. It both separates and connects the insiders and the outsiders. In fact, the gate is as essential as the house itself. What is the building without a door or an entry point? It is either a construction error or it is not a sheepfold or a house at all. The gate is not only an accessory to the house, but it also defines the house itself. Is it an accessible house, locked house or not a house at all?

 Being part of the digital generation, we have our own ‘gateway’. In our familiar terms, this is the access, the connection or the networking. We use this access to communicate, to work and even to make important decisions. It turns to be part of who we are, as we crave for it, demand it, and fight for it. Sometimes, I get upset because the connection is poor inside the formation house that I cannot communicate with my family in Indonesia. A child as young as one year old knows how to manipulate an iPhone, and cries loudly when the parents try to take it away from him. Many researchers conclude that Facebook has become another new kind of addiction, as more and more millennials are spending more time on FB.  Lesley Alderman of The New York Times said that we check our cellular phone at an average of 47 to 82 times a day precisely because the access it gives us to almost everything.

Yet, it is not only about addiction or having fun. It is about our lives. A lot companies, jobs and workers are now dependent on this access, something which did not exist twenty years ago. Better connection means faster transaction, the richer the company becomes. The same access is used to control remotely unmanned machines, like drone. Some drones are used for photography, fun and researches, but others can be used to carry powerful explosives. Now, the access can either make us or destroy us.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus introduces Himself as the gate, the access or the connection to the fullness of life. Now, it is up to us whether we enter this gate and use this access, or refuse to enter and waste the connection. If we examine our daily lives, how many hours do we avail of this divine access? We might be upset if we lose our internet connection, but do we get the same feeling when we miss the connection with God? How many hours do we spend for browsing the internet, and eagerly chat with our online friends, compared to the time we use to read the Bible and worship Jesus in the Eucharist? We might be surprised that we actually only remember God on Sunday. And in fact, within the Mass, we are also preoccupied with what inside our phone!

It is one of the fundamental reasons why many of us are unhappy, restless, and at a lost despite the success, riches and other access we possess. Perhaps, it is good to disconnect first from the many connections we have, and connect to the true source of joy. If we are not finding lives meaningful, it is because we are not entering that gate that leads us to the fullness of life.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP