Loving More

I can feel the news cycles slowing down about the new Pope – which was the flurry of news activity that I also appreciated. He won’t slow down and the crowds won’t slow down but the news will. Now, we perhaps will see there are people listening more to the messages that may be shared openly to the world about the mission of the Catholic church and especially about the Love of God. These messages are surely going to bring passages from the bible and stories from the bible out into the public to hear then again or maybe for the first time. The Bible is very Viable – it is a living Word of God – and when we share it, we are sharing Jesus directly. It helps others see how Jesus lived and to urge them (and ourselves) to be more Jesus-like in action and especially trust in God. 

I appreciated the recent homily of new Pope Leo – his homily at his inauguration, where he talked about Peter being reinstated by Jesus after his denials. Pope Leo’s speaks of a missionary church – offering Christ’s Love…  LOVE IS GOD and GOD IS LOVE – and this is the crux of the cross – the most important meaning for Jesus is to LOVE and to bring the ability for Love to come to all – all who are sinners and make them saints by the blood of Jesus. And because this love is sacrificial, then we can offer God’s Love because we are loved.

Pope Leo specifically spoke of Peter and how he was blessed by Jesus to have the reinstating-like triple questions after his three denials of Jesus on the night before He was betrayed. But that this ALSO was a reminder of purpose – to keep LOVING and feeding the sheep of God’s children. In the imploring of how to live his life in service – of how to love – how to love LIKE Jesus using the LOVE that God sends out. AND WE LIKE PETER – that we also can not love like God without ACCEPTING the love of God to USE IT. Let us pray to change our lives to make us into the disciples He wants us to be.

If there is anything that we can do to make our lives more missionary – it is to share LOVE. To show the bible to be viable, we need to live LOVE scriptures – Jesus LOVE is MORE – and we can use His love to feed His sheep…

LOVE MORE!

Amen and please read the snippet below about Jesus and Peter from Pope Leo. 

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Here is the 11 minute video and below is a link to the transcript – and excerpts for the transcript.

Pope Leo states (excerpts):

“Love and unity: These are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus. We see this in today’s Gospel, which takes us to the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus began the mission he received from the Father: to be a “fisher” of humanity in order to draw it up from the waters of evil and death. Walking along the shore, he had called Peter and the other first disciples to be, like him, “fishers of men.”

“Now, after the Resurrection, it is up to them to carry on this mission, to cast their nets again and again, to bring the hope of the Gospel into the “waters” of the world, to sail the seas of life so that all may experience God’s embrace. How can Peter carry out this task? The Gospel tells us that it is possible only because his own life was touched by the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of his failure and denial. For this reason, when Jesus addresses Peter, the Gospel uses the Greek verb agapáo, which refers to the love that God has for us, to the offering of himself without reserve and without calculation. Whereas the verb used in Peter’s response describes the love of friendship that we have for one another.

“Consequently, when Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:16), he is referring to the love of the Father. It is as if Jesus said to him, “Only if you have known and experienced this love of God, which never fails, will you be able to feed my lambs. Only in the love of God the Father will you be able to love your brothers and sisters with that same ‘more,’ that is, by offering your love your life for your brothers and sisters. Peter is thus entrusted with the task of “loving more” and giving his life for the flock.”

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“We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to him! Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: In the one Christ, we are one.”
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“Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the Gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters. With my predecessor Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: If this criterion “were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and peace return?” (Rerum Novarum, 21).

“With the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word, allows itself to be made “restless” by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity. Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.”

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whole transcript at https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/pope-leo-xiv-homily-inaugural-mass-transcript