June 07, 2019

You Know Everything

In this passage, Jesus and Peter sound like ships in the night. Jesus repeats his questions incessantly, and Peter, responding in kind, is puzzled and hurt. Why must Jesus ask so many times? Is it to be reassured himself of Peter’s love?

Sometimes it takes repetition to shake me out of a mental fog. I need to hear the same question several times before I actually listen to it. In the process, it’s easy to place the blame for my closed ears on the person asking the question.

—Claire Peterson works in the advancement and communications office of the USA Central and Southern Province and is the local organizer for Jesuit Connections – St. Louis.

Prayer

A Thousand Times

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times

Come, yet again, come, come.

—Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī