Do you Love me?

-

This week I came up to Gaston Farm to have a look at the lambing with my parents. One thing that I was struck me was the fact that each of the Lambs that had been born were painted a number on the side of them so that the Shepherd knows whose lambs belongs too. For the ewe also had the same number on them.  This is a device used just for the shepherds and not for the ewes who seem to know instantly which lamb belongs to them.

At our baptism we are signed with a sign of the cross on our foreheads. It reminds us that we belong to Christ. He knows us and loves us into being. Notice in the Gospel today that Jesus calls Peter by name. He asks him three times. It reminds us of the denial that Peter did about knowing Jesus just before his trail.

We are asked the same questions so often imagine your name being in place of Peter. He is calling us by name into action. By loving the Lord and responding to his call we act in love to others around us. We belong to him and so should respond to his call to, with our own gifts and talents, feed the sheep that has been given to us.  Sometimes though we do not hear his call we are side tracked by other things. Often when I am walking the dog if she picks up a smell and I call her she does not hear until I call her at least three times. This is like the Lord with us “I Called you by name” it says in Isaiah “and you are mine” and we walk away walking a different path. Sometimes this is a path of denial about the truth of our relationship, the called by name, the loved into being, the feed my sheep. The come follow me. And so we need to be constantly called back by the Lord.

I often imagine how annoyed Peter must have got by the third time of asking. Like a parent asking their children to do something that seems to have taken an age to do. As we have explored this is because if many reasons. But, we must make sure that we are ready to respond to his call. By prayer by the sacrament to reconciliation by being attentive to his call. Let us not wait for the lord to ask us a third time but always be ready to follow the Lord in our daily lives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year of Service

-
Image
  This last weekend I was able to look back with friends at the wonderful year I had with the Vincentian Volunteers. Looking back I can see that there are many elements to this year that have remained always with me. These I can now see and after reflection have shaped my life since this most formative year. From this year I went on to train for the priesthood and became a priest. After 16 years I left ministry and now try my best to live my Christian values and life in the world. In a recent upgrade to my CV I realised that my whole adult life has been in some sort of service to others and usually to the most vulnerable and those on the fringes of society. From working in Top Shop to ministry to the Hospital to the work I now do in education. This all stems from this year I had with the community and putting Love in action. Yes I have made mistakes on the way and my human frailty has been evident but this life was never going to easy and straight forward.  When I look back on that yea
Read more

Easter

-
Image
  Over the last few years I have had major issues with the Catholic Church. I think that my issue is the authority of the Church and how many clergy, not all, use and abuse their power and class the laity as stupid idiots. I can say this as for 16 years I was a priest and caught up in the system. When you're in the middle of it you can't aways see what is going on around you. I could not see what the Church as a structure was doing to peoples lives. Until I was out I realised that the Church and Im talking about the Catholic Church here is full up of repressed men who are scared of change scared of themselves and scared of the laity. Those who speak out especially clergy who want significant change are laughed at by others and classed as trouble makers. This includes Pope Francis himself who wants change but sometimes can't get it because of what he has inherited. It is an issue that has gone on your centuries.  This does not allow for a healthy functioning Church. There ne
Read more

What have we learnt? Covid and the last year.

-
Image
Over the last year since the start of the Covid pandemic there has been much in the press about the affects on society. We have seen that there are many people who are anxious, feel alone and worried about the future. So I looked on the Internet for the Christian response to the Pandemic. I was not surprised to see that there were many articles to suggest that the Christian Church as a whole has failed in this time.  In the first Lockdown the Churches were asked to close and there was no public worship. As the infection rate went down the Churches could open for private prayer. In the recent lockdown many places of worship have remained open although the infection rate being a lot higher. I have maybe been a thorn in peoples sides by asking why. I even wrote to the Cardinal  to ask him why. I argued that they should be left shut because of the demographic that tend to go. I got a standard reply back. When I looked in newsletters I read many times about how to give your collection and t
Read more