Memorial of Saint Paschal Baylon

[Three times Jesus asked Simon Peter], “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

All commentators have seen this triple questioning as giving Peter a chance to reaffirm his love for Jesus after denying him three times. When Peter says he truly loves the Lord, Jesus tells Peter how he wants him to express that love by caring for the sheep and loving them as Jesus did.

One of the first things we realize about Peter is that, again and again, he had been trying to prove his love for Jesus in other ways. And so, in John 13:8, Peter decided to show his love for Jesus by not allowing him to wash his feet… and Jesus had to correct him. In John 18:10, Peter decided to show his love for Jesus by fighting with the sword on Jesus’ behalf… and Jesus had to stop him.

And in John 13:37, Peter decided to show his love for Jesus by declaring that he would die by Jesus’ side… and Jesus had to contradict him and inform him that rather than die by his side, he would deny him three times that very night.

As we consider Peter’s failed attempts to define how he will express his love for Jesus on his terms, we should ask: where do we see the same pattern in ourselves? Maybe we need to think and pray about whom the Lord may call us to love. Today, we remember Paschal Baylon as the “Saint of the Blessed Sacrament.” Typically, he spent as many hours a day as he could worshiping before the tabernacle. There, he learned how to love Christ by tending his sheep. Can we not do the same?

Who am I being asked to love today to show that I truly love Jesus?

Let Us Pray:

O loving Jesus, help me to prove my love for you not simply by professing it with my lips but by loving the sheep you give me to tend for you.