One Minute Reflection – 3 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary” – Readings: Ps 88:20-22, Ps 88:2, 1 Thess. 2:2-8, John 21:15-17
At that time, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these do? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.
John 21:15-17
REFLECTION – The Lord asks Peter what he already knew, and that not just once but a second and a third time, whether Peter loved him. And each time he has the same answer, that he is loved, while just as often he gives Peter the same charge to feed His sheep. To the threefold denial there is now appended a threefold confession of love. His tongue is not to yield a feebler service to love than it did to fear, and the testimony of his word must be just as open in the presence of life as it was before the threat of death. If it was the sign of fear to deny the Shepherd then let it be the office of love to feed the Lord’s flock.
Those who have this as their purpose in feeding the flock of Christ, that they may have them as their own and not as Christ's, are convicted of loving themselves and not Christ. They are motivated either by the desire of boasting, or of wielding power, or of acquiring gain, and not from the love of obeying, serving, and pleasing God. The thrice repeated saying of Christ condemns those, therefore, of whom the apostle complains that they seek their own interests, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. For what do the words mean: "Do you love me? Feed my sheep"? It is as though he said, “If you love me, do not think of feeding yourself but feed my sheep as mine, and not as your own; seek my glory in them, and not your own; my dominion, and not yours; my gain, and not yours… So let us not love ourselves, but him; and in feeding his sheep, let us be seeking the things which are his, not the things which are our own.
St Augustine
PRAYER – God our Father, Your rule is a rule of love, Your providence is full of mercy for Your people. Through the intercession of Your |Angels and Saints and the Most Sorrowful Mother of Your Son, that we may be granted the spirit of wisdom and understanding in Your Word. Grant that by the light of the Your Word made flesh, we may know our eternal home and strive to attain eternal joy there with You. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 