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In God's Loving Care

Seventh Saturday of Easter
TODAY'S GOSPEL (John 21:20-25) tells of a final scene before the Lord ascended into Heaven. As the newly appointed leader of the Church that would take care of the Lord's sheep when He physically goes back to His Father, Peter had started thinking of maximizing the Apostles and disciples under him in order to reach as many Jews and Gentiles as possible. But obviously, he had nothing in mind for the beloved apostle, John. So he asked the Lord, what about him?

And the Lord replied: What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?

The Lord concluded His response with an exhortation for Peter to do instead: You follow me. 

In this account from John, the Lord reminds us of the primacy of God's will as the purpose of our lives. He tells us that our vocations are personal calls of a personal God. And only the person being called can exactly understand that call. 

Neither must we concern ourselves for the future of other people's lives. Their lives too are under the care of God. Jesus indirectly tells us that God's love of you and me are far stronger than all of us combined for each other. Because of that, He wants us to trust that the future of everyone is His concern and His alone. We may help our brothers and sisters follow the path opened to them by the Lord, but such help must always be done in accordance to God's will. Does God want me to be concerned with them? Does the Lord invite me to take part in that endeavor for others? The answer must be a certain "Yes" before we can rightly take initiative in taking care of others. If God inspires us to do that, by all means, we must. If God does not, we must wait for His invitation to serve others even if we know we need to do that. Is my desire to help a grace from God to do something about it? Or is it simply born of the notion of doing something good, a default reaction of a non-discerning heart? You follow me.

FATHER, thank you for the unending love that You have for me and others. Thank you for assuring us that our care and that of others are entirely in Your hands. We know that there is no other hand that can take care of us better than you do.

LORD, thank you for reminding us that everything is taken care of; that despite who we are You are always there to take care of us. Amen.
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