Simon, do you love me more than these?

6 JUNE (Jn 21,15-19)

Seeing the sin of the brothers and fixing it indelibly in the mind is very easy, because of our human condition. We tend to remember more the evil than the good. We always see the evil. We ignore and do not consider the good. The sin of others is constantly before our eyes. Even after a real and true conversion, even after sincere repentance, what remains for us of others is their sin. A truth taught by Ecclesiastes can be applied to every man: “A dead fly spoils the ointment of the apothecary: More weighty than wisdom or wealth is a little folly!“ (Ecclesiastes 10:1). To the eyes of the brothers one sin can ruin a whole lifetime.

Whoever walks with Jesus has to get necessarily out of this mentality of a sinful man. He must let himself be led by the greater truth of faith. God sometimes allows that we fall, we make heavy thuds, right because there are no other ways for the construction of the true faith and holy obedience in our hearts. The divine pedagogy goes quite beyond our twisted mind. The Lord makes us fall because otherwise our lives will never come out of the stall of non faith in which they are located.

Peter has always been refractory to Christ Jesus. His vision of things was, that of Jesus false. He, a man of great experience knew how the world works. On the contrary, Jesus still relatively young, had some deficits in knowledge and truth about the way of life. Peter thinks he knows his Master well. His words still deserve to be corrected. He knows everything. Jesus, instead, still lacks in a strong experience. How to arrange for Peter to get out of this conceit that places him in constant conflict with the thought of Jesus? The street is one: experiencing with immense pain and endless shame that every word of the Master is fulfilled.

The fall of Peter is not a part of the will to deny the Master. It is a true divine pedagogy that must lead the apostle of the Lord to come into a deeper self-knowledge. His word is not worth anything. That Jesus is infallible. You cannot build a future Church if you think that your word is everything, while that of Jesus is nothing. You cannot sustain a community if in your heart you do not put a strong assurance of faith: the word of Jesus is everything. Our word is nothing. Now that Peter knows this, Jesus can raise him as the visible head of his Church.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to 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 he 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.”

None of the other apostles must ever think that Peter loves less than him or them, Jesus. Today, he is asked to certify that hi love, in spite of his sin, is the greater than of all the love of the others, all other, including John, whose love for the Master is undisputed. Peter, who still lives in the shadow of his denial, does not dare affirm this supreme truth. He answers that his good is great. Jesus likes the humility of Peter. He does not want a self-confident Peter. He wants him to be humble, small, full of fear of the Lord, aware of still not loving the Master as he should. As long as he remains in this condition of great humility, Peter might hold and feed sheep and lambs. This is what is needed to every Pastor: being humble, always being thought lacking in love, seeing himself still very far from the Master, but with a strong desire in his heart of reaching him. Then, yes hearts and souls can be kept. Seeing perennially our smallness, we can be true servants.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us small, humble and simple.