Holy Week: Do you Love me?

Holy Week: Do you Love me?

Love is a noble way,

revealed in a word, a divine word,

spoken in human flesh,

presenting a real truth,

a fantastic life,

the very way that leads to life.

Jesus said once to the hapless Peter,

“Do you love me?”

thinking on his feet, Peter blurted out

“Yes, Lord, you know I love you…”

What a strange thing for Jesus to say next

“Peter, feed my sheep?”

Nurture my flock, be the rock

the foundation on which the church is built,

where blood. sweat and tears are perpetually spilt

in trying to love in return for the gift of being loved first.

On the cross

that word of love

whispered in a dying breath,

I love, for I am loved,

both lover and beloved…

then love yielded

to the barren desert of death,

but love lived again,

risen, conquering hatred,

destroying death forever,

radiating the new life heralded by Love itself.

Today, this speck of the rock

is trying to be faithful,

sometimes falling short,

then on reflection

gazing upon the cross

I am able to say, thank you for loving me anyway.

Jesus says to us all this day,

who do you love?

So, is it those who love you back,

those just like you?

Who do you love?

Do you love to earn love?

What if God already loves you?

What if being loved compels you to love?

A life of loving, poured out in service, in return for being loved first.

I am who I am,

I have arrived at another Holy Week,

I am ready to experience once more

that despite my shortcomings,

my vanity,

my inconsistency

my insecurity,

that I am truly loved anyway!

Really, you know, it is not

who do you love …

but it is coming to discover

that Jesus loves us forever and a day

and invites us to feed the sheep too, by following his way!

Fr Patrick Brennan 2021