Third Sunday of Easter

Scripture Reflection

Before her death, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote a letter to her superior. In the letter, she encouraged the superior to allow herself to be loved more than the sisters she lived with. The reason for the instruction was that the superior was the leader chosen by God to lead the group of sisters and should set an example and allow God to love her more.

In today’s Gospel, ask Peter if he loves him, and Peter says, “You know I do,” and then Jesus tells him to feed my sheep. Peter was to be the shepherd, and as a shepherd, his love for God was to be an example to all those he shepherded.

The same question is asked of each of us in the silence of our hearts, and the same instruction follows. Unfortunately, many do not hear the call to be shepherds, and many do want to lead. It is frightening to be assigned the responsibility of leading another person to greater heights and deeper encounters with the Lord. It is much easier to sit back and listen to the voices of the hierarchy and do what they say. Too many place their trust in the human institutions that make up our churches and do not trust enough in the Lord of love, the God of mercy, and the creator of all life.

To lead others to love God, we must first experience His love firsthand and know that He has touched us in a special way, and nothing will ever be the same. We must look within ourselves to find the answers we seek to the many questions about life here and life eternal. In plain and simple language, we must surrender our will to the will of God the Father and allow Him to mold us into the very image of love, into the image of His Son, Jesus.

We are instructed to pray constantly. What is the difference between saying our prayers and praying? When we say our prayers, we take what has been given to us and recite what someone else has written and likely experienced themselves. But when we decide to allow God to take over our prayer life, let Him direct our prayer life, and consent to the Father molding us into His very likeness, which is love, then we are truly praying.

To pray is to grow in the knowledge of the Lord and of ourselves, so that we recognize our propensity to sin and encounter the God of love who calls us to repent of our sins and forgives us. As our prayer life becomes more immersed in surrender to the Lord, our virtues will grow, and we will discover that our faith is on more solid ground, our hope is in the Lord alone, and we dedicate our lives to charity and bring Christ with us to everyone we meet.

For those who dare, praying only takes about 15 minutes a day. We abandon our prayer crutches and enter God’s presence in total silence, awaiting His coming to spend time with us.

Prayer allows us to enter the realm of the supernatural and sets a path for us to eternal life. So, the next time you hear God’s silent voice and He asks you if you love me, we can all answer, “Yes, Lord, I love you, with the love you have given me, and I wholeheartedly share that love with everyone I meet today.”

Deacon Phil