Even as we grapple to understand the full meaning of his life and ministry, the death of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, affords us on this Good Shepherd Sunday, a chance to reflect on the mystery of leadership – as we have experienced it through John Paul and through other persons.

This we do in the light of the word of God which comes to us this Sunday from John's Gospel, Chapter 10. The context of this discourse is a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees with their kind of leadership are likened to “thieves and bandits” who do not enter the sheepfold through the “ gate ” but get in some other way.

These are contrasted with the “shepherd of the flock” who enters through the gate . In other words, those who enter the sheepfold of people's hearts through the “gate” who is Christ are the legitimate shepherds or leaders. From verse 7 Jesus explains even more clearly: “ I am the gate of the sheepfold… ”

“ Gate ” is itself quite a beautiful metaphor to describe the process of leadership in the lives of human beings and in particular through the life of John Paul II. A gate in ordinary usage serves as a barrier or means of defense and at the same time as a portal which opens up into a new space, a new world. This reminds me of what I would call the “two poles” of leadership.

On the one hand, a basic part of leadership is tracing limits and boundaries and protecting the community against destructive forces. On the other hand, leadership, like a gate is concerned with opening up to the members of the community, a whole new range of possibilities, new ways of seeing and existing. This can be stated another way: leadership is not only about what is forbidden but even more importantly it is concerned with what is possible .

The metaphor of the gate really came to life in the life of John Paul II. As a gate , John Paul opened up for people everywhere a fresh, hope-filled way of looking at humanity. He was before all else a humanist. At the centre of his life was an abiding belief in the inviolable dignity and sacredness of the human person.

Nothing that men and women do, nothing which befalls them could efface their high calling. In his very first encyclical Redemptor hominis he wrote: Christ the Lord, Christ the New Adam in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.

At the same time, as the gate, John Paul defended humanity against the hostile forces of moral relativism, soul-denying communism and exploitative capitalism.

As a gate , John Paul opened up for many, the possibility of closer links among vastly different religious traditions. This was a pope who spoke warmly of African Religion. To a gathering of representatives of the Vodou religion in Benin in 1993 he said:

“ …Everywhere our attitude is one of respect. Respect for true values, wherever they may be found, respect especially for the person who seeks to live these values, helping to banish fear. You have a strong attachment to the traditions handed on by your ancestors. It is legitimate to be grateful to your forbears who passed on this sense of the sacred, belief in a single God who is good, a sense of celebration, esteem for the moral life and for harmony in society. ”

At the same time as a gate he sought to defend humanity against the seductive logic of violence in which terrorism is rooted. Indeed, John Paul was morally consistent in his stance against violence of all kinds against life in all its various stages.

According to Jim Wallis of Sojourner magazine, this was one of the reasons for the power of attraction that he exercised. He significantly altered the Catholic Church's stance on capital punishment; he opposed the war in Iraq as well as the death-dealing consequences of an international economy that ignored the rights of the poor. He did all this while continuing to defend humanity against the evils of euthanasia and abortion.

For me much of the attraction of John Paul, and all other great leaders, rests in the fact that he had a message for the world and not just for his own particular faith tradition. In his universal humanism, in his affirmation of the fundamental goodness of human beings, all could find a home. This reminds me of those verses which state:

I am the gate.

Anyone who enters through me will be safe:

He will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture.

The message of John Paul certainly fell sweetly on many ears, and in his proclamation of the Gospel, many found pasture.

Thank you, Father, for the life and times of John Paul II, part of which we have been privileged to witness. We pray that you may raise up more leaders like John Paul who not only defend human beings from the dark forces within and without but who like Jesus, the gate will open the path to new ways of seeing and relating to each other in the world in which we live.

Gospel Meditations for April are by Spiritan Fr Dexter Brereton, parish priest of Toco/Matelot.