Tag: Catholic meditation

Third Sunday of Easter

“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.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Jesus 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.”

Having heard this so many times, if I didn’t know this passage almost by heart, I’d say the conversation between Jesus and Peter sounds like a married couple renewing their vows after many years together. To read this is to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation, leaving me feeling a little uncomfortable, both because of the intimacy and because of the repeated question—three times—and with each time a different charge.

God, help me understand that what you ask Peter to do, you also ask of us: we are our brothers’ keepers. Thank you for calling me to intimacy with you in a way that sometimes challenges me and even makes me uncomfortable. You call me to a higher standard—the care of others close to me—whether they behave more like lambs or sheep.

At the end of the Gospel, Jesus simply says, “Follow me.” Easier to say than agree to than to actually do. However, whatever my relationship to others, if I accompany them without first following Christ, where will the relationship tend? I am a sheep among sheep unless I hear his voice and take to heart that penetrating question, “Do you love me more than these?”

Today I want to recognize you throughout the day as the risen Christ. Your disciples had trouble recognizing you even after you had appeared to them several times. I ask you, God, make clear to me when you approach so that I understand fully what it means to be at peace, to be able to say, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Saturday of the Second Week of Easter

USCCB Readings

“When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.”

Today’s reading takes place in John’s Gospel immediately after the Multiplication of the Loaves, after which Jesus withdraws again to the mountain. It’s no surprise, then, that the disciples are afraid when they see him walking toward them on the water since they probably believe Jesus to be away from them. A strong wind was blowing; fear was in the air. This is one of many times when Jesus appears to the disciples and says, “Do not be afraid.” A quick Internet search reveals that this is said in the Bible 365 times—once for every day of the year.

God, help me understand that you are present even in the ordinary moments of the day when fear and anxiety pervade; you are present in every trial. In the midst of persecution, your words, Jesus, penetrate the depths of our being: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” At first, the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus, perhaps thinking he was a ghost. Since they had rowed out about three or four miles, they wanted to take Jesus into the boat but found the boat arrived immediately to shore.

Let me rest in knowing God is with me and that he can quiet whatever the storm that elicits fear. Let me know that God has his hand on my head, guiding me, showing me which way to go to arrive seemingly right away.

Today, a Saturday, will not produce the usual workaday trials, but there will be tasks to complete and timeframes to accommodate. Places to get to and the anxiety of getting there. God willing, today will bring, at worst, light stress. I want to remember, like Brother Lawrence, that God is with me even during mundane tasks like peeling potatoes. I want to recall throughout the day that the very Son of God will be beside me, saying, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

USCCB Readings

“ ‘Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.’ So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.”

Jesus asks Philip where they could buy enough food for the crowd that followed Jesus up the mountain. He does this to test Philip, who gives Jesus a matter-of-fact reply: “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” But it is Andrew, Peter’s brother, who suggests something that Jesus follows up on: a boy in the crowd has five barley loaves and two fish. “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted.” How many times throughout the Gospel Jesus does this! He takes the little given to him, blesses it, and returns it to us in superabundance.

This miracle, which takes place near the time of Passover, is a kind of Last Supper before the Last Supper. Because of that, in it is a prefiguring of the Mass and the Eucharist, a sharing in life-sustaining food that fully satisfies, a dwelling in the house of the Lord. God, help me understand what it means to seek you as the crowd that followed you were hungry for food but also for so much more. Help me know what it means to be satisfied, as today’s Psalm says, to gaze on your loveliness and contemplate your temple.

To contemplate the Lord, to dwell in his house, I can imagine the risen Jesus asking Thomas to put his hand into his side, putting his finger into the nailmarks. That also, as grotesque as it seems, is to gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and to share in the Paschal meal; it is to take the broken bread and have more than I could eat.

Today when I am caught up in the flow of the day and the tasks I am given, I want to remember it’s not about measuring how much productive labor will yield but instead a trusting in the little given to God to accomplish his work, not mine. I want to remember to be like the boy who gave what he had and found through God’s work more superabundant grace than I could possibly imagine.

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

“The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”

After reading today’s Gospel passage several times, I see John describing the relationship of the Holy Trinity. The one who comes from above is Jesus and is above all in the person of God. The one whom God sent, Jesus, speaks the words of God through the Holy Spirit and “does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”

God, help me understand relationship of the Trinity in light of the Holy Spirit as love between the Father and the Son. The last words of the Gospel are harsh, dealing with disobedience of the son and the consequences of that being the wrath of God. Yikes! Yet, I also have to consider Peter’s experience in the first reading of being brought before the Sanhedrin and accused of wanting to bring blood upon them. They acted out of fear, desolation, and vengeance. Peter’s reply, which is echoed in the Gospel: “We must obey God rather than men.”

I’m tired and distracted. Before I try to accomplish today what I know will only be a fraction of what I hope to do, let me rest my head on Jesus’ chest. In that rest, let me see what the Holy Spirit witnessed during Jesus’ life on earth and also what the Holy Spirit witnesses today as Jesus continues to live in those who believe in him and in the sacraments, where his presence remains.

Peter says in the first reading, “We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” To think that, like the disciples, the Holy Spirit witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus, “who does not ration his gift of the Spirit,” I have to pause to consider that today and every day, I can call on the Holy Spirit, witness of the life of Christ, to know and obey that same love between the Father and the Son.

April 23, 2022—Saturday of Easter Week

USCCB Readings

“But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.’ ”

It’s difficult to hear Jesus rebuking the disciples for not believing the others after his resurrection. The flip side of this is that he asks the disciples to go out into the world to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. (Saint Francis took these words of Jesus literally, preaching to the birds.)

Three times this Gospel passage refers to the unbelief of the disciples (“they did not believe”; “they did not believe them either”; “they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.”). God, help me understand the unbelief endemic among the disciples, the witnesses of the Messiah, the first Christians. Yet, Jesus is patient with these disciples, slack in faith, to the point where he charges them to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world. Humbling to consider!

Many distractions today, many twists on how I thought the day would go. On any given day, I hope to accomplish dozens of things. Today is no different, yet there is consolation today in letting God take the helm, peace in knowing that my unbelief doesn’t stop God from asking me to share humbly in his mission.

Today let me put aside as best I can the unbelief that prevents me from seeing Jesus even as I see his face in others and in the humble appearance of bread and wine. As Peter says in the first reading, after Jesus appeared to the Eleven and his unbelief he put behind him: “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”