Daily Reflection – May 13, 2016
Friday 13 May 2016
First Reading: Acts 25:13-21
Responsorial Psalm:
The Lord has set his throne in heaven
Psalm 102(103):1-2, 11-12, 19-20
Gospel Reading: John 21:15-19
Today’s Feast: Our Lady of Fatima
Today’s Note: Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter. Day of penance
Gospel Reading:
After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them,
he said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Simon Peter answered 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.”
Reflection:
In Acts we hear of Paul spending two years in prison, just because Felix was a people pleaser (“a man left in prison” by Felix). He was abandoned. In our active spirituality, in our workaholic culture, two years in prison seems such a waste of Paul’s time. Not necessarily so. When we are old, feeble, diminished, imprisoned in our bodies, nothing is lost. Perhaps the sick and suffering do more to build the Body of Christ than all the action-oriented missionaries. In John’s gospel, we hear the same consolation: Jesus reminds Peter that when he is old another will lead him.
Let your imagination travel around the world, searching out the sick, the imprisoned, the diminished, those whom society casts off as non-productive. Smile on each group in the hospital, the nursing home, the refugee camp, the prison. Smile the Spirit’s blessing on the homebound, the jobless, even the criminals, and love them.
You choose the weak to confound the strong. When we are weak we know that your Spirit is strong in us, and your power is made strong in our weakness. Increase; help us want to decrease.
