You Follow Me

“When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus,

‘Lord, what about him?’
Jesus said to him,

‘What if I want him to remain until I come?
What concern is it of yours?
You follow me.’”

John 21:21-22

At the end of their conversation by the sea, after Jesus tells Peter what will happen to him (dressed by another and led to where he do not want to do), he asks Jesus what will happen to John. The answer Jesus gives to Peter is similar to what parents say to one child after he or she is told to do something and then he or she asks, “Well, what about Tommy?!” Mind your own business. Do what you’re asked to do. Do not worry about what Tommy is going to do. I can almost hear Jesus say, “Peter, don’t worry about what will happen to John. I just entrusted my entire flock to your care, worry about that!”

Jesus’s “worry about yourself” answer is not one that should inspire indifference, but rather one that should stir up within us a deep sense of charity. What Jesus is really saying is “Peter, you have been entrusted with a special mission that only you can carry out, and likewise with John. You have your own cross to carry and so does John. If you worry too much about John’s cross and mission you will come to neglect your own. And, if you neglect your own cross and mission, the people of God will suffer.” Hence, Jesus says to Peter, “You follow me.” By living out the call with which one has been entrusted, one is living out the virtue of charity. By doing what one has been called to do, one is doing good for the other. Each one of us has been entrusted with a unique mission that only we can carry out, and each mission helps builds up the Kingdom. How amazing is that?

Brothers and sisters, it can be challenging sometimes to discern what God is calling each one of us to do, and that is why prayer is so important. By immersing ourselves in prayer, nurturing our relationship with God, we will come to learn to hear God’s voice more clearly, hearing Him call us His beloved and say to us what it is that we are to do. And when He does, He will also tell each one of us what Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.”

None of the Apostles were given a step-by-step manual on what to do, how to do, or where to go. They were simply told to follow Jesus. They followed Him for three years and after Jesus ascended into heaven, they continued to follow Him. They remembered all that Jesus had taught them, all that they had seen Jesus do, and they did likewise. They followed Jesus in word and in action, and we are asked to do the same. Follow me. But we know that the Apostles were not alone even after Jesus went back to the Father. Tomorrow we will celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the day the Father sends the Holy Spirit so that all who would come to believe would have life.

When Jesus says to us today, tomorrow, and the day after, “Follow me,” He is not simply saying “Follow the example that I left you,” rather He is saying to us, “I am truly present. I am here. I am with you always, right here, right now. Do not be afraid. Follow me.”

The Price of Love

“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.”

John 21:18

Initially I had mixed thoughts about the title I gave to this reflection. Love shouldn’t cost us anything, for it should be freely given and freely received, so wouldn’t saying the “price” of love be contradictory? In the Scriptures we hear about the “pearl of great price” and St. Peter tells us that we were not redeemed by any perishable sum of gold or silver. So indeed there is a price that comes with love, but not a quantifiable, monetary one. The price of the greatest love is God Himself.

After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to the Apostles and on one occasion talked one on one with Peter. Jesus asked Him three times “Do you love me?” Each time Peter answers in the affirmative and Jesus charges him with a mission (for a more in-depth reflection on this encounter, click here). At the end of the conversation, Jesus tells Peter that he will be led to where he does not want to do, and isn’t this a big part of love? When we love someone we will sometimes have to do something or go someplace we’d rather not.

True love requires sacrifice. No one normally seeks out sacrifices — that wouldn’t be true love for the intention would be something other than wanting the good of the other. If we wake up in the morning and think, “Hmm, what kind of sacrifices can I seek out today?” I think it might come from a place of pride. But rather, we might think and pray, “Lord, how I can serve you today? Please give me the courage and strength to step outside of my comfort zone to see you in the other.”

Today we celebrate the sacrifice of the martyrs St. Charles Lwanga and his companions. They were young Ugandan Christians who rejected to break the moral laws when they were asked to do so by their political ruler, and as a result were martyred. Because they received and experienced the love of Christ, the sacrifice of His love, they were able to do the same — to lay down their lives in witness to the love of Christ. That is the price of love.

Our Giftedness

“Father, they are your gift to me.”

John 17:24a

The month of June is dedicated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the very heart that bled for us, that nourishes us and saves us, and that which makes us the beloved of the Father. In His prayer, Jesus says to the Father that we are the Father’s gift to Him. We, flawed men and women, in our weakness and brokenness, are the Father’s gift to Jesus, and Jesus takes great joy and delight in that gift.

Our giftedness that comes from the Christ is not in our talents or in the things we do well, but rather in our weakness, brokenness, and vulnerability. It is such because is it only we recognize our weakness are we able to see and experience the power of God and the great love with which He loves us. It is our brokenness that the Lord wants us to bring to Him so that He might make take what is broken and turn it into a new creation.

Brothers and sisters, in life there will be times when we feel defeated and times when we feel hopeless or weary. At those times we may be tempted to turn inwards to ourselves, but that is from the enemy. It is precisely at those times that we must turn outward and look up to the Lord and give to Him our defeat, hopelessness, despair, sorrows, weariness, and frustrations because when we do, He will not shame us or be disappointed in us or remind us of our sinfulness or scold us for our lack of faith, but rather He will gaze upon in tenderness and remind us of our giftedness and belovedness. “You are my beloved, and I will take care of you.” May we claim our giftedness in Christ by offering up to Him our brokenness and weakness today.