Roc Homily for 3rd Sunday of Easter 2016

Sit with this for a moment if you will: How do you respond with Simon Peter to Jesus’ question, “Do you love me?”

This may be the most revelatory question in the whole gospel in that it can reveal to you, to me, where we are with God revealed in Christ through the Spirit.  “Do you love me?”

Here’s the quotation I used from Sebastian Moore OSB’s magisterial book, “The Crucified Jesus is No Stranger” (p. 76):

But the mystery of iniquity is that I may easily and without infringing on any commandment but rather allowing myself to be a decent average representative of my society, make it be the case that I do not have a heart to give.

And this is the work of mercy, that Jesus took Simon Peter there and invites us “there” as well.  Moore says that having an “encased” heart, a heart unavailable for loving, is the work of our iniquity.

Ouch. And thank you.