The Gospel of John, chapter 21:15

When you accept another person with no strings attached, great things happen, new worlds come into being. There is no better example of this than Peter in today’s gospel. Peter was a person who always rushed in where angels feared to tread. The gospel of S. John, chapter 21, tells of Peter’s rehabilitation after his fall from grace. The Lord reached out to him in love and Peter reciprocated with love.

The story begins with Peter doing what he did when Jesus first chose him; namely fishing. Although he has fished all night, he comes up empty-handed. Once the risen Lord arrives on the scene, Peter abandons his nets, dives into the sea, and swims ashore. There Christ welcomes him, feeds him and the other disciples. In spite of his human weakness, the Lord accepts Peter. No strings attached. It is through this unconditional act of love that Peter, who denied the Lord, is rehabilitated. And, so can we. So can everyone in the church and outside the church.

Peter was not afraid to take risks: risks that got him into trouble and out of trouble again and again, and eventually into sainthood. It was Peter who hopped out of the storm-tossed boat and tried to balance himself in the turbulent waters; it was Peter who stepped into the controversy over who Jesus was, boldly declaring Him to be the son of God; and it was the sword-brandishing Peter who cut off the ear of Jesus’ captor. Peter was, by no means, a perfect man, but he was prepared to work at it. He never gave up, and his heart was always in the right place. He learnt from his mistakes and, spurred on by his love of Christ, he became perfected.

We see that Peter was no water-walker without Jesus’ rescuing hand; he was no theologian either like St. Paul. After declaring Jesus the Messiah, he was also called a Satan by Jesus for not understanding His mission. Peter was no hero either. Within minutes of raising the sword in defense of Jesus, he denied Him three times because he feared a girls’ taunts. Yet, it was Peter who in time remained rock-solid in the faith and who strengthened the faith of others because he “was there, done that.” His example is an inspiration for all of us who continue to stumble because of human weakness. As the bible says: “the just man falls seven times a day.”

St. Peter is an example of what can happen to everyone when they are willing to love the Lord in spite of human weakness. Burdens are lifted; sins are forgiven; shame is banished, and new life, as ever, dawns anew. People sometimes naively imagine that their spiritual lives can be neatly packaged in a sort of catechism of questions and answers. But, life is not like that. Life is about change and growth, and our spiritual lives are no different. We live and learn, and if we are guided by the spirit we move along to a better place and into a more mature state of being. Our spiritual lives are forged in the context of our real lives. Like St. Peter, we stumble and grope sometimes, but we are carried along by the love of Jesus to higher levels of perfection. As Cardinal Newman put it: “To live is to change, and to change often is to be perfect.”

Fr. Hugh Duffy