Feeding After We Have Been Fed

May 1, 2022

It is after finishing a meal cooked by the Risen Savior that the invitation is given.  Jesus pulls Peter aside and invites him to feed and tend to His flock.  In my life, I have been a part of a lot of fundraising projects.  The routine has usually been to feed potential donors well and to take good care of them before asking for yet another donation.  This is not just about dining out and food.  It also provides an opportunity to listen well and understand well.  When an individual is in that place of comfort, a new opportunity arises.  It is basic to a lot of strategies implemented in successful fundraising.

Today Jesus longs for Peter to be in a place of comfort to further the invitation.  He longs for Peter to move to a deeper place on his journey of faith.   It was in my sophomore year at Illinois Benedictine College when this passage came alive for me.  My car had broken down and I was commuting from my home in Berwyn by taking the train to Lisle and then walking from the station to the school each day.  It was a situation in which God had my attention.  I was free from distraction and could better hear His invitation.  It was at the end of that year that I entered the college seminary.  It was from a place of satisfaction and peace that God revealed a yet deeper plan for my life.

The Lord is doing the feeding.  The Lord longs for us to be in a place where there are no distractions in order to bring forth a yet deeper invitation in our lives.  He longs for us to trust His real presence,  His ability to be risen and alive in this world.  When we are at that place, it is then He can begin the process to call us into a deeper relationship with Him.  We are called to recognize not only the abundance of blessings in our lives but also the responsibility to share those blessings with others.

Today in this church, in this Sacrament of the Eucharist, we are all well fed.  Now it is our turn to feed others.

Fr. John