John 21: 15-19
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.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the 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. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Putting Love into Action
After his resurrection, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times in a row. Each time, Peter vehemently and vocally reassures Jesus of his love. But St. Ignatius tells us in the Spiritual Exercises that love shows itself in deeds over and above words. Jesus gives Peter, his designated keeper of the keys to the kingdom, specific instructions as to how to put love into action. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep.
How can we modern-day disciples demonstrate our love for Jesus? He gives even more specific instructions in the 25th chapter of Matthew: feed the hungry; give water to the thirsty; be hospitable to the stranger; clothe the naked; look after the sick; visit the prisoner. These are the corporal acts of mercy that lead to eternal life.
—Karen Dill is an Ignatian trained spiritual director for the Diocese of Shreveport.
Prayer
Teach me how to be compassionate to the suffering, to the poor, the blind, the lame, and the lepers;
show me how you revealed your deepest emotions,
as when you shed tears,
or when you felt sorrow and anguish
to the point of sweating blood
and needed an angel to console you.
Above all, I want to learn
how you supported the extreme pain of the cross,
including the abandonment of your Father.
—Pedro Arrupe, SJ
Pray with the Pope
The Holy Father’s Monthly Prayer Intentions Brought to you by Apostleship of Prayer the first Friday of each month.