Consecration for Catechesis: John 9:39-10:9 Christ the True Gate of the Sheep

Christ is the true gate of the sheep. The sheep must come in and go out by Him and find pasture. It is important for us to notice that Christ here calls attention to the many teachers of false religion, who try to climb into the sheepfold by other ways than the gate. Such teachers are thieves and robbers. But what does this mean in the daily reality of the Christian life? What we have here is substantially a prophecy that there will be in the Church various false teachers, who will teach things other than the gospel of Christ. By not making reference to Christ in their teaching or by using only superficial reference, they bypass the gate of the sheep and climb into the fold of the Church by other means. Sadly, even I personally have known cases of such counterfeit "gospels" being preached in the Church. At one point in my priesthood, there was a pastor of a church not too far away from me, who professed to be a Buddhist and used his position to teach Buddhism.

Nevertheless, usually the tactics of the "thieves and robbers" are more subtle than that. Usually they can be found "spinning" the gospel in order to promote their own ideas, using this or that text to support their views, while ignoring volumes of other texts that contradict them. Rather than their message being firmly rooted in the Word of God, God's Word is merely used to offer support to deviant notions.

Real preaching and real catechesis have to be rooted in the Word of God according to the Tradition of the Church. In this context, the Tradition of the Church means the way that the Church has consistently understood the sacred text. Any development of that understanding is consistent with what came before. There are never any contradictions in Tradition.

God, grant the grace to preachers and teachers to put aside their own ideas and cling firmly to the Tradition of the Church, founded as it is in the Word of God. May they have an ever-deepening insight in the True Faith as they reflect upon Your Word in silent conversation with You. Give them the grace to desire to be drawn ever closer to You through prayer and their apostolate; choosing to abide in You, the Vine, may they become fruitful branches in Your vineyard. To You be glory in the Church through all the ages of ages. Amen.