Dear friends, peace be with you all from Jerusalem!
In these days the Lord through his Word invites us to enter the narrow gate (Lk 13:24). In another context, He will say "I am the door..." (Jn 10:7-9). References in the holy Gospel are always full of meaning and in Him, places, spaces and names are personified. Especially the Evangelist John as the singer of Truth speaks of all this as a "Christological space", which clearly refers to him, to the Lord. The terms used by saint John are symbolically taken from physical reality but refer to Jesus who is the new Temple (Jn 2:21), the living Water (Jn 4:10-14), is the Gate (Jn 10:9), is the Light of the world (Jn 9:5), whoever follows him will have the Light of life (Jn 8:12), does not remain in darkness (Jn 12:46) and whoever follows the truth comes to the Light (Jn 3:21), these are only some examples.Here in this Garden we continue to discover him not only as the meek and humble Lamb who lets himself be caught and bound (Jn 18:12), but we also contemplate the true Shepherd... "who gives his life for his sheep" (Jn 10:11).
In fact, John tells us that the Lord presents himself twice to the small group of soldiers escorted by the traitor Judas Iscariot and asks: "Who are you looking for?". They answered: "Jesus, the Nazarene". Jesus replied: "I have told you that it is I. So if you are looking for me, let these go". So that the word which he had said might be fulfilled, "I have lost none of those whom you have given to me" (Jn 18:7-9).
It is surprising to discover the Lord so present and authoritative, he is the true Keeper who defends his own! He really is our Shield and Bulwark... our Defender (cf.Ps 17). Even today, as a Good Samaritan, he comes to meet our wounded humanity, he invites us to be witnesses of his immense love... of the little Samaritans in the reality in which He has placed us.
Let us thank in our poor prayer God the Father who gave us his Only Son, let us restore this grace with our lives, in the adoring silence of the one true God.
