Thursday, May 20, 2021

Do you love me?

There is a portion of Acts that speaks of Paul in prison and the Romans’ reticence to convict him. They didn’t want to get involved in religious beliefs. Paul’s crime was that he was a “Jesus person” and he was preaching that “Jesus is alive” (Acts 35: 13-21).

As a Christian, I know that Jesus was resurrected, ascended to heaven and is alive today. Jesus is alive in all Christians, by virtue of our Baptisms. How others know that God is alive in us today is in how we live our lives.

God’s freedom, a gift to each of us, is our choice of how we live, what beliefs and values we behave from as well as voice. Like Peter who responded to Jesus’ question, “do you love me?” each of us responds to that question each day in our living and loving (John 21:15-19).

“Feed my lambs…feed my sheep” is meant for us. Jesus is telling us that we’re to nourish one another and welcome nourishment ourselves. We can share our FAITH: “Who is God for me now? How am I loving God now? Where do I find God in my life today?” We can share our LOVE, i.e. with family or friends who need Presence rather than judgment in their painful times. We can allow others into our grief and loss times.

The lambs among us, who might they be? Lambs are led to slaughter. Bono (lead singer of U2 and a philanthropist of late), a few years back, said it wisely: “God is with the poor”. The poor are figuratively slaughtered daily as the world community pays little attention to their plight. They’re ravaged by poverty, by disease, by oppression. We worldly peoples seem to pay more attention to war and winning political points than to health care and disaster relief. The voices of and for the lambs speak of involvement rather than apathy and denial.

God loves us through and through. God knows when we have “Paul moments”: Jesus is alive! God knows when we have “Peter moments” and deny Jesus’ Presence in us and others. God loves us in all of our moments.

To quote Psalm 103:8-11:

Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.

He will not always accuse, and nurses no lasting anger;

He has not dealt with us as our sins merit, nor requited us as our wrongs deserve.

For as the heavens tower over the earth, so his mercy towers over those who fear him.

Choose to love. Choose a life through God, with God, and in God.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".