An important question

In today’s Gospel Jesus walks along the shore and calls to the apostles who are in their boat on the lake. They have been fishing all night and have caught nothing.  Jesus has them toss the net over the right side of the boat and they catch 153 fish. Seeing that the person on the beach is the Lord,  Peter, motivated by his love for Jesus jumps into the water and swims to shore.  The Lord cooks some of the fish over an open fire and invites the apostles to have breakfast with him.  As they do so, Jesus asks St. Peter three times, “Do you love me?”  Commentators believe Jesus asked the question three times to enable Peter to make up for the three times he denied Jesus.  (Jn 21:1-19) 

As I prayed through this Gospel this morning I sensed the Lord saying to me, “Do you love me?”  I am able to say “yes, Lord, I do love you.”  But, do I say that glibly?  Do I really mean it?  How do I mean it? Does the way I live my life reflect the fact that I love Him? 

When Peter stressed his love for Jesus, the Lord gave him a mission, "feed my sheep".  Because we love Jesus we too have a mission - to witness to His love by the way we live our lives.    “Yes, Lord, I want to love you with all my heart.  I want to love you more than anything or anyone. Please fill my heart with the grace to truly love you - and to serve you."

When Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?”  How do you respond?