April 26, 2026 Essay: Through the Gate to an Abundant Life

During my theology studies in Boston, once a month, I would drive out to Weston to meet with my spiritual director, a senior Jesuit. On the way, I would turn off the radio and reflect on the past month. As I took the exit off the Mass Pike and drove through the countryside, I became more aware of my surroundings and noticed the New England stone walls winding along the road.

We see similar stone walls as we drive north into Westchester and Connecticut. Call one of them to mind and consider the different types of stones that make up that wall. On their own, none of the stones is particularly polished, pretty, or perfectly sized, but each one fits together. Each stone has a purpose. A good builder will only pick up a stone once and then put it in place.

I bet sometimes we feel like rocks—rough around the edges, gathering moss, hardened, and after a long winter, a bit heavy. But the Lord sees us like the builder of a New England stone wall. None of us is rejected. Each of us fits. Together we form something with character. That is how Jesus sees us.

One thing I learned when I was in New England is that if you want to build a more durable stone wall, you build a dry one, with no mortar between the rocks.

With a dry stone wall, sheep can lean against it and use it as shelter from the elements. The small gaps allow air to pass through and dry them off after the rain. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit fills and smooths the weak parts of our lives, if we lean in.

This weekend, the Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. While encouraging all vocations, the Church gives special attention on this Good Shepherd Sunday to the priesthood, the diaconate, and religious life.

Today’s Gospel from John lends itself to this prayer. Jesus says, “I am the gate for the sheep.”

May we see God’s handiwork in our lives, recognizing the gifts we have received in his love. We acknowledge our weaknesses and ask the Holy Spirit to move through the cracks. We can be confident that Jesus sees something in each of us, like a good builder who knows his stone, like a shepherd who knows his own.

Secure in the Father’s love, Jesus is able to lie down at the gate to keep out wolves and threats. A good shepherd lays down worldly ambition to be of service to the flock.

Pope Leo XIV writes in his message for the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations about how crucial a faith community is to fostering religious vocations:

“I invite everyone…to commit themselves more fully to creating conditions that allow this gift to be embraced, nourished, protected and accompanied, so that it may bear abundant fruit. Only when our surroundings are illumined by living faith, sustained by constant prayer and enriched by fraternal accompaniment can God’s call blossom and mature.”

I know my own vocation was nourished by the shepherds and shepherdesses of the St. Ignatius Loyola parish community, as was the vocation of Jake Braithwaite, SJ, who will be ordained a priest this June. Perhaps a gentle invitation, or an intentional practice of prayer, can open us up to the Good Shepherd to use us as the gate, inviting many more shepherds and shepherdesses to embrace a religious vocation, which Pope Leo calls “an adventure of love and happiness.”

— Rev. Patrick C. Nolan, SJ, Provincial Assistant and Director of Vocations, USA East Province of the Society of Jesus