The scripture reading for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter | USCCB
In our gospel for today we hear our Lord question
Peter three times about His love for Him. As you recall, on the night that our
Lord was betrayed, Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times. Peter
claimed that he would never do such a thing. But by the end of the evening,
before the cocked crowed, Peter did indeed deny knowing Jesus the three times
our Lord predicted. This filled him with a great deal of guilt and remorse.
Peter was so terrified that he himself would end up being handed over to the
Romans to be crucified that he took the cowards way out and denied Jesus. Peter
denied the person that he knew was his Lord and Savior.
In today’s gospel, after Our Lord rose from the dead,
and as he was on the shore preparing breakfast for the apostles, we hear of the
love and forgiveness that Jesus had towards Peter and allowed Peter to make up
for the three times he betrayed the Lord, by telling Jesus that he did indeed
love him. And Jesus gave him the instruction of feeding or tending the lambs
and sheep. Peter, being the leader of the apostles, was given the instructions
to take care of the people that would come to faith in Jesus Christ. Peter
would spiritually feed the followers of Jesus by living out his faith in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. This, as our
Lord predicts, would lead Peter himself to be crucified for his faith in Him.
Peter went from being afraid of claiming to know who Jesus was, to boldly proclaiming
to the whole world that Jesus was indeed Lord and Savior.
We are all like Peter. There are times when we fall
short in our following Jesus and as a result deny our faith in Him when we
should be proclaiming that we are indeed followers of Jesus Christ. We need to
bring our faith in Jesus in every issue or problem that we may face in our
family or work life. We are to include our faith in resolving these family or
work issues. There are times, for whatever reason, we find it easier to not bring
our faith in these situations. It is then that we deny knowing Jesus. It is
after these times of denying Jesus that we need to turn back to Him in the
sacrament of Reconciliation and seek forgiveness. Jesus is always there in the
sacrament of confession to bring us His love and forgiveness. In confession
Jesus is asking us, through the priest, “Do you love me.” Our response is,
“Lord, you know I love you. Here is where I fell short in following you. I am
sorry. Please forgive me.”
Let us pray for the courage to always proclaim that we
know, love and serve Jesus as our Savior, even when it seems easier to turn
away from our faith in Him.
Yes, there are times when, although we/I avoid outright evil, we are/I am tempted to take what appears to be an easier way, a more selfish way,a more convenient way or a less scary way than what God would have us/me do, & sometimes as a result of fear (e.g., of suffering) or a desire to be comfortable. I remember once saying that I think the conflict I have is not between good & evil. I think that I choose good over evil, or at least I choose what is obviously good over what is obviously evil. The more subtle & more challenging conflict for committed Christians is the conflict between self & God.
ReplyDeleteI haven't gone to confession in a long time (thank the LORD I have never committed a mortal sin) but I have an appointment to meet with my pastor for the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday afternoon. So this is a timely reflection.
Confession is an important tool. It's good that you have never committed mortal sin, but confession could be used to confess even venial sins. I myself go to confession every 4 weeks. I find it valuable.
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