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When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, Amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he has said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21: 15-19
How easy it is to find a sense of happiness.. to feel free when everything is going our way.. How easy the road when everything seems to flow smoothly and in our favor.. Without struggle, we carry no cross.. Without struggle, we need no help.. no support.. Without struggle we need no one.. we walk alone…
Jesus was trying to get Peter to see something in himself that is very important, something extremely intricate to his profession of faith.. That is, that it is not enough to simply boast “I am a Christian”, we must live it.. Jesus said, “Peter, feed my sheep.” This is a command.. What Jesus is telling us is that our call as Christians is to tend to the needs of others.. The greatest commandment is to “Love God and love others.” This is what defines our Christian faith.. By saying “yes” to that call….
When I arrived in Medjugorje this past September 8th, Feast of Our Lady’s birthday, I was carrying a very heavy cross… a burden that was oppressing me so much I was actually beginning to fall into despair.. and what weighed down this cross was a lot of confusion, anger and hurt… I’m not going to go into all of it right now.. This is not the place.. Besides, it doesn’t matter so much why I was carrying this heavy burden as much as it is important that I began to offer it up and accept not just the cross I was given to carry but also the help God desired to send my way.. the many Simon’s He places before me.. The past is the past and it is important to work through these hurts by offering it up, relying on the grace of God, and then simply let it go…
This particular passage from John’s Gospel helped me to realize that I cannot expect everything to always go my way, nor should I expect to never have to suffer… This passage also reminds me that it is important to both tend to the sheep in my life and to allow the sheep placed by God in my life to tend to me in my own needs as well, the sheep that I am…
This journey of conversion we share is about charity.. It is about love.. Love of God.. And love of neighbor.. It is about helping one another to climb the rugged mountain that stands before us.. Because at the very top of that mountain is Christ Jesus! And He awaits us with open arms! He has redeemed us and He desires more than anything that we accept that redemption and say “yes” to His invitation to climb Calvary to one day be with Him for all eternity..
Now Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbors.. To be charitable.. It is easy to be charitable towards those who please us.. How easy is it to be charitable towards those who cast stones at us and make our journey difficult? One of the greatest stumbling blocks for us in our human nature is to love those who do not love us back.. I am to love my neighbor as myself.. What about when my neighbor annoys me? Or is mean to me? What if I find myself often arguing with my neighbor because we do not see eye to eye? How do I respond? What if my neighbor lashes out at me to hurt me? Well, I think we all know the answer to this.. “You have heard that it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5: 43,44 Perhaps sometimes it just seems easier said than done.. but it’s not impossible.. On November 7th, 1985, Our Lady said "Dear children! I am calling you to the love of neighbor and love toward the one from whom evil comes to you. In that way with love you will be able to discern the intentions of hearts. Pray and love, dear children! By love you are able to do even that which you think is impossible. Thank you for having responded to my call." While I was in Medjugorje, I witnessed this on occasions, as well as, receiving the grace myself to love those whom evil seemed to be coming from..
So, I began this recent pilgrimage to Medjugorje with a very heavy broken heart full of pain and full of confusion.. and even some resentment in my heart.. and as a result I was sitting on the very edge of despair.. But through the grace of God I received the greatest miracle of my entire life! That is, a very powerful and indescribable inner healing.. a healing of inner peace.. of feeling loved as a child of God, the infant that I very much still am … And I left Medjugorje feeling as though I was a new man.. a re-birth.. and I embrace this opportunity to begin anew with open arms, with all my heart, and all my mind, and with all my spirit.. It is my hopes that by the time I have finish sharing with you about this very special pilgrimage for as long as it takes to write it all out, I hope that I will have testified and witnessed to this tremendous outpouring of God’s graces in a way that helps others draw closer to the Risen Christ Who calls out to each of us just as I have been helped… As well, and please hang in there! Because I have lot’s of treats! Some, should hopefully prove to be really nice surprises for everyone… I hope you enjoy!
