FEEDING GOD'S SHEEP

This photograph was taken by a parishioner at St. Paul's in Fairfield, CT in October of 2003 at the Blessing of the Animals.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

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Early in my first year of Divinity School at Yale I was in the Rector's office once again whining about my life. It was always, "Why me?. Look at my life, why would God want me to be a priest. There must be some mistake." Sandy, who had heard all this before, got up and went over to the shelf and took down her Bible. After a few flips of the pages she handed it to me, pointing to John 20:15-19. She said simply: "read". I dutifully read the pericope and stood in silence for what seemed an eternity. And then, perhaps for the first time, I got it! Not that I wouldn't question it time and time again over the next several years, but it was a beginning. I still had a lot of learning to do, not just from the books or the professors or scripture, but the kind of learning that leads to understanding and eventually acceptance and action.

Each and every day I work hard at living into my priesthood. Those days when the questioning begins to dominate my thinking once again, making everything I do just that much more difficult, I pull out that quote from John and read it over and over and over again. " . . . someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go. . . Follow Me" Renewed and recommitted I go about doing what I know in my heart I was called to do:Feeding God's Sheep.

Grace & Peace,

Mother Lisa+