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Today’s Gospel is about forgiveness and friendship. When Jesus says “Follow me,” Peter knows his has been forgiven for his betrayal. How have I betrayed the Lord?
Jesus looks on His disciples–present and future–as the Father’s gift to Him. They–we–are precious to the Father and to the Son.
Jesus does not wish his heart to be a mystery to us. Rather his heart is an open door; he wears it on his sleeve for us, so to speak. Jesus makes his heart completely available to us. He is meek, he is humble, and he makes himself vulnerable, as he is consumed by love for us and concern for our eternal destiny.
Although the hidden life of God remains a mystery inaccessible by reason alone, professing God as Trinity is not meant to distance us from him. Through the Son’s incarnation and the sending of the Holy Spirit, not only are we capable of understanding the eternal relationship of intimate loving communion that is the Holy Trinity, we are able to share in it. This is why we were created, why every human heart cries out to be loved.
Marianne Cope listened only to God, accepting and caring for people others feared or found distasteful and putting her own health at risk. Hansen’s disease, in those days called leprosy, struck fear in the hearts of most people. It was believed—later disproved—that the infection that strikes the skin, nervous system, and more was highly contagious. As a result, in Hawaii and elsewhere, those suffering from Hansen’s disease and sometimes their family members were cast out from society.
St. Anna Schäffer wanted to be a missionary. Falling into a boiling laundry vat took away any possibility of that happening; she was bedridden for the rest of her life. It didn’t seem right. Hadn’t God put on Anna’s heart that she had a calling as a missionary? For two years, she struggled to see the purpose in this tragedy. With time, she adjusted her thinking, and she began to see her disability as a cross to be picked up and carried daily. Anna said she had three tools with which to bring souls to the Lord: her suffering, her needle, and her penholder.
“Whatever troubles may be before you, accept them cheerfully, remembering whom you are trying to follow. Do not be afraid.” —St. Mary MacKillop
“My joy is in leading a hidden life unknown to others.”—St. Euphrasia of the Sacred Heart
“The Lord has called us from different nations, but we must be united with one heart and one soul.” — St. Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad
For us as Christians, the highest value should always be love. If we’re going to accept the Judeo-Christian heritage as meaningful and authoritative in any way, we have to admit that love comes first and last. That puts us on a different track and forces a different set of questions. The deepest questions are not those of rights and power, or whether or not we’re getting everything that society owes us. The deepest questions are those of how love can be expanded and increased. How can we “defer to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21)?
