Of Sheep And Shepherds

-

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles - Holy Day

Today's Readings:
[ Ezek 34:11-16; Ps 87; 2 Tim 4:1-8; Jn 21:15-19 ]

On the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the Church remembers two very different men bound together by the same Lord, the same Gospel, and ultimately the same costly love. Peter was impulsive, wounded by his own failure, and restored by Christ on the shore. Paul was tireless, sharp, poured out like a libation, still preaching even as his race neared its end. Neither man was perfect. Both were claimed.

In Ezekiel, God speaks as the true shepherd: “I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.” Before Peter is told to feed Christ’s sheep, before Paul is told to proclaim the message, there is first the mercy of the Shepherd who seeks the lost, binds up the injured, strengthens the weak, and gathers the scattered. Ministry begins there, not in ambition, but in being found.

In this spirit, St Francis did not build his life on power, prestige, or victory, but on being a little brother under the care of the Good Shepherd. The Church is not entrusted to Peter and Paul because they are flawless heroes, but because they have been humbled enough to know that the flock belongs to Christ. “Do you love me?” Jesus asks Peter. Not, “Are you impressive?” Not, “Will you win?” Simply: “Do you love me?”

Paul, too, reaches the end of his life not boasting in himself, but in faithfulness: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” His strength is not self-importance, but surrender.

Today’s feast reminds us that Christian leadership, and Christian life itself, is not about building monuments to ourselves. It is about being gathered, healed, and sent. We are sheep before we are shepherds. We are loved before we are useful. And when Christ asks for our love, he sends us back into the world with a simple command: feed, tend, proclaim, endure.

May we, like Peter and Paul, allow grace to make something faithful out of our weakness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choosing Sight and Light

-
Image
Today's Readings: [ 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 ] The readings today invite us to reflect on how God sees and how we see . In the First Book of Samuel, the prophet Samuel assumes that Israel’s next king must surely be the strongest and most impressive of Jesse’s sons. But God corrects him with a lesson that echoes throughout Scripture: “The Lord does not see as mortals see.” Human beings are naturally drawn to outward appearance, status, and strength. God looks instead at the heart. And so the shepherd boy David—the youngest, the overlooked one—is chosen. Psalm 23 reminds us that the Lord is still the shepherd who guides His people. Even when we walk through dark valleys, when the way forward seems uncertain, we are not abandoned. The shepherd sees the path ahead even when we do not. In the Gospel, Jesus heals a man born blind. Yet the miracle reveals more than restored physical sight. The man who had been blind comes to see clearly who Jesus is, ...
Read more

St Patrick's Day - Green Beer Or Radical Love?

-
Image
Today's readings: [  2 Cor 12:14-16, 19; Ps 131; Mt 5:43-48 ] St. Patrick’s Day often brings images of green fields, shamrocks, and joyful celebration (green beer, anyone?). Yet beneath the cultural festivities lies the story of a man who lived the Gospel in a radical way: humility, trust in God, and love even for enemies. Today’s readings trace a quiet but powerful thread through those same virtues. In Psalm 131 , the psalmist says, “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” It is a picture of profound humility—of a heart that does not strive for greatness but rests in God. Franciscan spirituality holds this posture at its core. St. Francis believed that true wisdom begins when we stop grasping for status or control and instead become small before God, trusting Him as a child trusts a loving parent. Paul echoes that same spirit in 2 Corinthians , insisting that he does not seek the possessions of the people he serves but the people themselves. L...
Read more

Bread That Endures

-
Image
Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Teacher of the Faith, 386 - Commemoration Today's readings: [ Wis 7:7, 11-14; Ps 119:33-40; Jn 6:26-35 ] There is a quiet theme running through today's readings: the difference between what satisfies for a moment and what truly gives life. In Wisdom, Solomon does not ask for power, wealth, or long life, but for understanding. And in receiving wisdom, he finds that all other goods fall into place—not as idols to cling to, but as gifts rightly ordered. This is echoed in the psalmist’s plea: “Teach me… give me understanding… turn my eyes from what is worthless.” There is a deep hunger here, not just for knowledge, but for a way of seeing the world as God sees it. Then in the Gospel, Christ names the tension plainly. The crowd seeks Him because they ate their fill. Their hunger was real—but shallow. Jesus invites them deeper: “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” And then He reveals the heart of it all:...
Read more