“I am the Door. If Anyone Enter by Me, He Shall be Saved."
By Rev. J. Fuhlrott
John x. 9.
When the whole human race turned away from God, and was steeped in sin and vice, the just God determined to wipe the whole human race from the face of the earth, with the exception of Noe and his family. Therefore God commanded Noe to build an ark of wood, in which he and his family and part of the animal world (two of each king), should be saved. Noe went to work and made the ark according to the orders of God, with three divisions, and one door on the side.
According to the opinion of St. Augustine, Jesus Christ crucified, our Redeemer, is represented by the ark, and the sacred wound in His side, particularly His Sacred Heart, by the door at the side; "the door," he writes, "which was at the side of Noe's ark, is in fact that wound made when the side of Christ crucified was pierced by the lance." For as Noe and his family were saved by entering through that door into the ark, whilst the rest who did not enter perished miserably, so will those who enter into the sweetest Heart of Jesus crucified, with a lively faith and contrite heart, be safe from the deluge of eternal damnation, whilst those who refuse in this life to enter in at this door of life in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, will perish miserable. After banishing our first parents, God placed at the gates of Paradise, a Cherub with a fiery sword, to guard the path to the tree of life. What Paradise was to our first parents, the Sacred and divine Heart of Jesus is to us in the new law, but there is no Cherub with a flaming sword to prohibit the entrance to strangers, this door of Paradise stands open to all, no one, not even the lowest is excluded. For this reason the Lord desired to be laid in the sight of all in the crib; this is why He associated with all mankind, and suffered within view of all upon a mountain outside the gates of Jerusalem, and allowed the door of His heart to be opened with a lance, that all might find free entrance there. How appropriate are here the words of the Prophet: "This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it." (Ps. cxvii. 20).
Christian soul! is not the door of life, and the gate of salvation opened to thee, by the lance of the soldiers? Why then dost thou hesitate or fear to approach the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, even though it be surrounded by thorns? "Open ye to me the gates of justice," thus prays the royal poet, in the 117th Psalm (19 verse): "I will go into them, and give praise to the Lord." What does this door of justice signify other than the Most Sacred, wounded and open Heart of Jesus crucified, in which dwells justice in as much as the satisfaction which it accomplished has reconciled the heavenly Father. "Behold," says the venerable P. Ambrose Spinola, "what He has done and suffered for thee! He opened to thee His heart, that you might behold how much it has already spent itself for the sake of thy salvation, that you might see with what love He has always loved thee, and that thereby you might have confidence to enter into the wound of this burning heart, after having town thyself away from the turmoil of the world." Holy Writ relates of the Patriarch Jacob, that when he saw that wonderful ladder, the top of which reached into heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descending, and also saw the Lord Himself standing upon the ladder as if He were holding it that they might not fall therefrom, he exclaimed with surprise: "This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of Heaven" (Gen. xxviii, 17). Herein is hidden a great mystery. The ladder is the cross of the Lord, by means of which Christ Himself and all the elect ascend to the heavenly home. The Lord who leaned upon the ladder, is, according to Corneli8us a Lapide, Christ hanging upon the cross, nailed to it with both hands, holding this ladder for us, that we may the more easily ascend to Him. By heaven opened we understand the Most Sacred and divine Heart of Jesus crucified, which has become the door of salvation for all, and the sure gate of heaven: "Verily, this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven!"
To this the divine Savior seems to have alluded when in John (x, 9) He says: "I am the door. If any one enter by me, he shall be saved, and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures:" (Ps. xxii, I), "for the Lord offers thee His most Sacred and amiable Heart not only as food, but also as the door of eternal life. Enter now through this door by devout meditation, so that you may find in the same an everlasting dwelling place."
Great respect is shown for a sacred door, preserved at Rome, which once belonged too Pilate's palace at Jerusalem, and through which the true King of Israel, the divine Savior, entered several times during His passion. Another sacred door held in high esteem is the one of the Vatican at Rome, which every Jubilee year is opened with great solemnities by the Pope, and closed again at the end of the Jubilee. Through this door the faithful often crawl upon their knees into the sanctuary, there to gain the plenary indulgence.
But much holier, more venerable is that door of true life, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, of which St. Augustine says: "Longinus opened for me the side of Christ with the lance, I entered there, and rested safe in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus." The high priest used to enter into the Holy of Holies by a door made of olive wood, "and in the entrance of the oracle he made little doors of olive tree." (3 Kings vi, 31). The olive tree is a type of peace and mercy, and for this reason, according to the opinion of St. Ambrose, while all other trees were destroyed by the flood, the olive tree alone was preserved by God, and Noe's dove broke off this tree the green branch as a sign of peace and mercy.
O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus! Thou art truly that door of olive wood. The door of peace and mercy. Whosoever enters this door with a devout and contrite heart will find abundant pasture, and possess eternal life.
O may then all enter into this door of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, for there is room for all, even for the most miserable and despairing sinner.
Christian soul! Why art thou sorrowful? Thou hast a place of refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus crucified; there thou wilt find a sure protection in all your trials, in persecutions, and dangers, in vexations and temptations. "Enter thou into the rock, and hid there in the pit, from the face of the fear of the Lord," writes Isaias (ii, 10), which means: Fly to Christ; hid thyself in the wounds of Christ!
O Christian souls! there is a place of rest for you all in the Most Sacred Heart; why do you seek shadows? Go to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: "This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it." (Ps. cxvii, 20) Amen.