Simon, son of John, do you love me? You know everything, you
know that I love YOU - Peter responded.
Certainly, if Jesus asked today - Do you love me? Our answer
would be the same: Lord you know everything you know I love you.
And there is a lot of truth in that.
Our presence here in the church is a public profession of
our love for God. Our prayer, our fraternal help for another person and to
trust our attempts, also confirms this.
Why does God, from time to time, ask us to love Him?
Not like Peter three times, but through whole of our live?
Is once not enough?
It appears that not.
We are people who often fall in love. We fall in love with
another person, fall in love with our talents, fall in love with whatever we
have. Normally, we would not change our lives but for a loved one we sacrifice
everything. Time, skills, money. Silently counting on this love, to be returned
to us as a reciprocated love.
When our love is not understood by another and not
reciprocated, we pull back. Very often we give up too early, because we see
that it was not love but infatuation. Then we fall into gloom, and despair and
ask ourselves - why does the other person not see our love?
A similar situation may occur in our relationship with God.
Many of us can confirm our love and devotion to God.
Especially in the solemn moments of our lives: when we receive the sacraments, in
the solemn moments of the liturgy of the church.
How strong is our love and faith at Christmas and Easter?
How strong we feel when we have faith that God hears our
prayers and they impact our life as we want them to? When we are not missing anything, when we
are happy because our children are our friends, we call out ..."God loves
us".
But the situations in our life do not look so colorful when
we start to doubt whether in fact we are
loved very much by beloved Father.
Are we sure He sees our efforts?
St. Peter affirmed his love for Jesus and for this love he
was paid by death.
Well we know that love very often requires sacrifices. We
can only say after years if it was a great and lasting love. Only when we
decide to commit to someone can we see the everyday reality of life to be able
to overcome the problems and to be able to say I love you, I love you now, I
love you still and I will not stop loving you.
Our God is asking from time to time for our love for Him. He
wants to eliminate our temporary fascination with love. While waiting for our
answer, He wants to be treated exactly the same as those which we love.
People with whom we live and for whom we are able to devote
our lives. Do not expect flowers, gifts, and other examples of love from God,
for when we begin to live with Him, as in our common everyday life we affirm
our words..."Lord you know that I love You."
Fr. Thomas
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