Do You Really Love Me?(May 1, 2016) When they had eaten their meal, Jesus said to Simon Peter, John 21: 15 
It is our mission, our challenge; it’s what we do every day as Vincentians. We feed His lambs; we tend his sheep. When I was a child, when my kids were young too, we could judge the seriousness of any matter by the way a parent addressed the son or daughter. Only when it was of great importance, good or bad, did the parent use the child’s full name. If my mother called me ‘Denise Lorrayne’ I had better listen and I had better not forget what she had to say! I gather that was a common experience. The message that I received from reading this passage from John’s gospel was that Jesus addressed Simon Peter with his full, formal name, “Simon, son of John.” It wasn’t just Simon, and not once. Jesus used the full salutation, each time he asked the question and repeated the direction to care for his people. I have heard many people speak of the importance of the question being asked three times, but not really of the importance of the way Peter was addressed. Today that is what impressed me. I think Jesus is telling me how important my personal Vincentian calling is and how seriously I need to respond to his direction: Feed my lambs. Care for my beloved ones. Alleluia!
|
