Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (4/22/2007)

Dear People of Holy Name,

Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved him. Each time he asked he referred to a deeper and more self-sacrificing love. Jesus was confirming his love three times because three times Peter had denied the Lord when he needed him most. Peter reconciles with the Lord and commits his whole being to the Lord.

Jesus never gave up on Peter, nor does Jesus ever give up on us. As he went to great lengths to confirm Peter’s love so the Lord will never stop seeking us. He truly is, as Gerard Manly Hopkins said, “The hound of heaven.”

How blessed are we to have a God who gives his all for us and asks us for our all. To receive the Lord is to live in his love and become like him in pouring our lives out in love for others. This last week I’m sure we all found ourselves pouring our hearts out and praying for the victims at Virginia Tech. A horrible tragedy in what feels like our family here in the United States. The sadness hangs heavy in our minds and hearts.

Experiencing the pain of the Virginia massacre made me think differently of stories I’ve been seeing for years now where suicide bombers are killing several to almost a hundred at a time, almost daily, in the Middle East. But that always seems so far a way in a land my heart does not embrace. So it is here that I hear the Lord’s voice say do you love me, really love me, even in the women and men in Bagdad?

How far am I willing to go in my love? How deeply am I ready to love all others, those close to me and those far away? Because charity does begin at home, one way to love those far away is to consciously love those around us. Today, mindful of those who have lost their lives tragically, I will love those near me realizing they are gift to me and I am called to bring peace to them.

Just as the Lord never gives up on us and will go to any length to unite us with him, we should not give up on ourselves, others, or the belief that the world can be a better place. The small things we do as expressions of our faith become our strongest prayers for peace and make the resurrection a reality in our midst more that we will ever know. We are an Easter people. We believe that out of the worst comes new life. This must always be the foundation of our lives and our lived hope in all things.

Let us pray for the gift of the Spirit that unites us to the Lord and to all God’s people. Let us also pray for the gift to live in the light of the resurrection, so that hope may always fill our hearts and give us new energy to build a better world in the many deliberate acts of kindness our faith in Jesus inspires.

May the Spirit fill our hearts and bring us peace!

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo