By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).
Gates exist because of walls. Walls exist because there are things worth protecting.
There are many who believe walls are not a good thing. In some cases this is correct. Walls sometimes unjustly separate persons from the good things that God created to be enjoyed by every human person.
The universal destination of goods means that everything God has given us is meant to be shared by those who have with those who have not. This can include freedom and a new way of life as has been the case for millions throughout our own history.
Walls have doors. My grandfather was an illegal immigrant. The door in his case was in fact a bridge from Canada into Detroit. He began a new life and became a citizen, free to raise his Catholic family in this country. I am grateful that he assimilated and became a productive and responsible member of society. My parents were the first members of their families to go to college, paving the way for the opportunities my brothers and sisters and I enjoyed.
Most important of the freedoms is to follow the truth of our faith, without which I would not have been blessed with the vocation to become a priest.
These rights and privileges of citizens are enjoyed and preserved because of a secure and peaceful way of life. Walls and other protections make these possible. Thus, the necessity for legal immigration in a country under rule of law.
Yes, some walls separate people from the good things they want. This does not trump the necessity of protecting the weak and the vulnerable. Gates enable ordered entry, preserving everyone’s way of life.
Yes, life is worth protecting. Once again this January half a million protectors and defenders of human life will take to the streets of our nation’s capital to proclaim the sacredness of every human life without exception from conception to natural death. Many more will participate in local marches for life in cities all across this land. We will decry the violation in the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 of the fundamental principle of justice that all human lives are equal.
Baby humans are the most precious gifts in our midst. The womb of the mother is the first line of protection for the unborn child. Roe v. Wade legalized child murder, rendering every unborn child unsafe even in the sacred space of the mother’s body. We cannot rest until every child is once again protected in law and in life.
Our President Donald Trump joins our ranks as the most pro-life president in our nation’s history. What’s more, this year he will answer many prayers by becoming the first president in history to appear and speak at a March for Life in Washington, D.C. Protection for the preborn cannot be long in coming. Let us redouble our efforts of prayer and action. (The Wanderer went to press this week on January 23, one day before the national March for Life.)
Love is the answer for the dilemma of a world unwelcoming to the most vulnerable. We know the source of that love is God Himself. Through the mystery of the Incarnation, celebrated just weeks ago once again at Christmas, God broke through the barrier, the wall thrown up by sin. Man was condemned but could not save himself. An impenetrable wall stood between Creator and creature.
Bad walls are not the ones that keep out the lawless and the murderers and protect the innocent. There are bad walls and, among these, the very worst was the one that separated man from God because of the “original” sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve.
Jesus is the “gate” because, through His death and Resurrection, the wall between God and us has been broken down. We will enter through Him, into the sheepfold of Heaven, as a “narrow gate” which begins now through His Church, the graced keeping of His law and Commandments and as we offer Holy Mass which makes of our church buildings the “House of God and Gate of Heaven.”
Five parishes in my area have restored gates in their altar railings in the past nine months and more are planning to build rails. Our own parish is among these with the recent installation of our beautiful antique brass gates to complement the existing rails.
As I urged my parishioners last week, “Every time you look upon the gates in our altar rail, think of the Lord Jesus and the blessing that comes down to us from the altar, His Body in Communion, to receive which we kneel at the rail and by which we will enter one day forever into the heavenly banquet.”
No, the altar rail is not a barrier at all, but a reminder at one time in all of our churches of the love of God in Jesus Christ, the gate through which God comes to us and makes of our lives here good pasture, leading to Heaven.
The words of our Lord “I AM the Gate” now have new meaning and resonate more powerfully for all of our parishioners as we see this symbol of the gate, opening the altar rail. We see in this symbol a reminder of, and encouragement to, faith in the role of Christ as sole Savior, who destroyed the wall of sin which separated us from God and threatened us with eternal separation from His life and love.
The altar rail, not a separation from God but, rather, an extension of the altar where we receive Christ truly present in the Eucharist, is open in the middle by means of its gate, reminding us that Christ feeds and nourishes us as the Good Shepherd through Holy Communion.
Our Lady in her Immaculate Conception is the gate or fence around the Incarnation. God condescended to be protected by this Woman, who said yes to becoming the mother of all the living by conceiving Christ in her womb.
Mary brought Christ into the world after protecting Him for nine months. She teaches us to love and welcome Christ adoringly in the Eucharist and lovingly in His image in every child, born and preborn.
“Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in” (Psalm 23, 7).
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
You can show support by following me on Twitter @IntroiboAdAltar and stop in at my blog APriestLife.blogspot.com.
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