Note: There are two sets of readings for this weekend's Masses for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. The Saturday Vigil Mass uses John 21:15-19 for the Gospel reading, while the Sunday Masses use Matthew 16:13-19. My reflection today will be on the Saturday readings, since I attend that Mass and generally write these on Saturdays. I have links below to previous reflections on both Gospel readings. UPDATE: Ironically, my parish chose the Sunday readings instead! Ah well ...
This morning’s Gospel reading is John 21:15–19:
Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and, when they had finished breakfast, said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered 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 Jesus 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 had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Is love a feeling? Or is it an action? And what difference would it make?
Most of the modern assumptions about love is that it's a feeling, something one might catch as a cold or get hit with as a "thunderbolt," so to speak. "You can't help who you love" is an oft-heard claim, usually in less-than-ideal circumstances for those involved. We love people, we love food, we love movies and TV shows, we love romance, and so on. Love love everywhere, and not a drop to think.
Too often, what we think about as "love" really are just feelings. We get physically attracted to someone, and we call it "love at first sight." Certain foods evoke pleasant memories and sate our appetites, and we end up loving pizza. (Too much, in my case!) We reach our formative adolescent-to-young-adult years, and we love the music we heard at that time because it becomes associated with the emotional peaks and valleys of that transition. We have emotional responses to our appetites and how we fulfill them, and we sometimes call the attachments that form "love."
And we have those feelings and appetites for good reasons. Those are gifts from the Lord, embedded into our nature to allow us to seek fulfillment in our lives -- to find our place in His creation, to form bonds of community, to raise families or to enter into other vocations. We should never be afraid of these feelings, but we should recognize them for what they are and seek to order them as part of our relationship with the Lord. He wants us to be truly happy, as in at peace with Him and all others, by understanding the difference between our appetites and true love.
Because love is not a feeling. Love is an action. Love is a commitment. To love in the scriptural sense means to serve what you love before you serve yourself, and to sacrifice your appetites to ensure the happiness of others.
Today's Gospel reading makes that clear in the exchange between Peter and Jesus at Galilee. Jesus had returned and wanted to set things right with Peter, who had denied Him three times after Jesus' arrest in Jerusalem. This Gospel passage is often noted for its repetition of the question, in a sense negating Peter's apostasy, although Jesus had already forgiven that.
This full passage delivers another message: to love Him is to serve Him, always. After every answer from Peter, Jesus makes that clear by replying in kind, "Feed my sheep." Jesus is not asking Peter if he has a warm affection for the Lord, but whether Peter will choose to love Him and His Body, the Church. Jesus tells Peter that loving Him will mean "feeding my sheep," or in other words, taking His place as shepherd here on Earth.
And as the passage continues, it's clear that it means much more than simply tending the flock or Peter's restoration to the leadership of the Church. By choosing to love the Lord, Jesus warns Peter that his fate will not be his to decide and that he will not rest in his old age but will have to sacrifice himself for that love. Peter chose to love the Lord and accept that sacrifice as a willing sign of his faithfulness to Jesus.
So too did Paul, who teaches the Galatians a similar lesson. In our second reading, the former Saul laments his earlier life as a Judean Zealot determined to destroy the nascent Christian church. He had progressed far in his previous life, Paul writes, becoming one of the most prominent of his contemporaries at the time. However, when the Lord visited Paul and called him into His service, Paul chose love over his appetites, glory, and previous community:
But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.
For both men, this choice had fatal ramifications. Paul was already a citizen of Rome, but Peter went there as well in his later years to spread the Gospel. The Romans killed both of them -- Paul by beheading, and Peter by upside-down crucifixion. The two Apostles chose to love the Lord, knowing that this choice would bring them to these eventual deaths, as did almost all of the Apostles, save John.
These people of faith did not do this simply out of a feeling or predilection. They endured suffering and death because they took the action of love -- love for the Lord, love for the Church, and love for us as an extension of both. Unlike our affections for pizza, disco, and Spaceballs, true love has costs and burdens that must be borne constantly, as well as joys that transcend appetites and preferences.
Love is a choice, an act of commitment that has to be renewed every day, and in every trial. This weekend, we celebrate two of the founders of the Church, who acted in love and faith, knowing that our Lord would carry them through every trial and welcome them to our eternal home when their mission is complete. Their courage allows us to know Jesus and to grasp His love for us, which takes the form of action every day in His Passion and the Holy Spirit's indwelling in our hearts through His sacrifice.
When Jesus says, "Do you love me," how will we answer? And how will we commit ourselves to the courageous act of love?
Previous reflections on these readings:
- John 21 readings --
- Matthew 16:13-20 readings --
The front page image is the Feed My Sheep monument at the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, Tabgha, Israel. Taken by Ed Morrissey in 2013.
“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature that looks at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.
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