“Do you love me more than these?” A very personal question by Jesus that goes deep into the heart of Peter to the extent that he finally answered, ‘Lord, you know everything’.
‘Lord, you know everything’ is the spiritual stage in one’s life where the ‘I’ dies and the ‘Lord’ takes over. Praise God, brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus! With Summer around the corner, I am sure most of us have made plans to make the best use of the sun, especially where I am: we really look forward to the sun to get as much daylight as possible. That’s an external aspect that is certainly an important part of our lives. Now, how about the Son? The Son of God.
The Son
The question posed to Peter is one that the Son of God asks us in our everyday walk with him: Do you (Place your name here) love me more than these (place your husband/wife/child/job/house/car/vacation plans/hobbies or even your church ministry)? This is a rather uncomfortable question that we prefer not to answer, but we have to! In fact, our salvation hinges on this question, ‘Do you love me more than these?’
After Peter denied the Lord thrice, Jesus took Peter through an inner-healing experience, and Jesus reaffirmed Peter’s love for him by asking the same question thrice. The true mark of a Christian is weakness turned into victory, vices turned into virtues, sin turned into triumphant love! How willing are we to expose our dark areas for the Holy gaze (Examination) of the Holy Spirit, which is going to determine the outcome of our true transformation? I can very well lead a superfluous Christian life, or I can get back to the basics and ask real questions like – what change have the sacraments made in my life?
CCC 2843 ‘It is there, in fact, “in the depths of the heart,” that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offence, but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.’
Birth of the Church
In a few days, the Holy Mother Church would celebrate the great feast of ‘Pentecost’ or ‘The Birth of the Church’, in other words, ‘Born in the Spirit’. In the flesh, we will never ask ourselves questions like ‘what change have the sacraments made in my life?’ or ‘Do you love me more than these?’ In the Spirit, not only would we entertain those questions, but we will start working towards honest answers to those questions. St. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, the great mystery of this ‘Born in the Spirit’ experience that is ‘So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!’
Honesty
Peter, our first Pope, refused to identify with his earlier denial, yet did not cover it up. He was willing to expose himself to the Loving gaze of our Lord for healing. This is vital: refusing the guilt of the past to rule, not living in denial, and being willing to co-operate with the Holy Spirit to be healed and strengthened until one reaches the point of complete surrender, ‘Lord, you know everything’. This is the ‘Born in the Spirit’ experience, where ‘I’ die and ‘The Lord’ takes over. The Apostle John explains this great transformation beautifully in John 3:8, ‘The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’
“I” lose control and ‘The Spirit’ takes over, O! what a glorious life. This is my prayer for each and everyone this Pentecost, that the same Wind (Holy Spirit) that blew over the Disciples who were gathered along with our Blessed Mother in Acts 2 will blow over every one of us, so that we let go and let the Spirit take control, as to boldly proclaim alongside our first Pope, St Peter: ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!’
