The Door

"Therefore Jesus said again: I tell you the truth. I am the gate for the sheep." (John, 10:7)

It is not enough to achieve the qualities of the sheep, with regards to its gentleness and tenderness in order to reach the Divine Kingdom.

It is necessary for the sheep to recognize the door of redemption with the indispensable discernment and guard the path, disregarding the pleas of an inferior order that appear from the edges of the road.

From this we can conclude that the common sense that is needed to be victorious, does not exempt one from the caution in the orientation to follow.

Not always, the loss of the herd comes from the attack by beasts; but rather, because the inattentive sheep transpose the natural barriers, deaf to the voice of the shepherds and blind to the appropriate exits, searching for the pastures to follow. How many are attacked unexpectedly by the terrible wolf, because, fascinated by neighboring green pastures they deviate from their own road, overcoming obstacles, in order to attend to destructive impulses.

That is what occurs to individuals in the course of their experience.

How many noble spirits have lost precious opportunities due to their own indiscretion? Some men of admirable patrimony sometimes become arbitrary and capricious. In the majority of the situations, they imitate the virtuous and useful sheep who, after having achieved various ennobling titles, forgets the door to be reached and breaks the necessary and beneficial discipline in order to yield to the devouring wolf.

XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. Our Daily Bread. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Spititist Alliance for Books, 2003. Chapter 115.