3rd Sunday of Easter

Do you love me?

  John 21:1-19

After all the resurrection accounts and the work of the apostles as fruits of the Holy Spirit, we now go back to our original experience to Jesus.  "Do you really love me?"

What do these words really mean?

"Minamahal mo ba ako?"

These words will continue impinging in our hearts, hitting us to the core, "Do you love me?"

When a person will confront us with these words, the most basic of all questions would be, "Have you really known me enough to love me?"

Being a Christian is not simply about doing good or avoiding evil.  Being a Christian will help us be confronted if in the first place we really know Christ more than we know ourselves.  Can we really claim that we know more about Jesus than we know our husbands or wives, our children, and even our very selves?  Know Christ and we shall know who we are.

Do you love me?  Do you love me more than all the others, even the people we love?  Loving is deeper than knowing.  Loving entails involving our very being, our deepest hopes, desires, and even the freest of our wills.  Is that space reserved only for Jesus?  Remember, loving Jesus means knowing that it was Jesus who loved me first and continues to love me more than other people can love me.  Now answer, Do you love Jesus more than all others?

Do you love me?  This third question will help us to love everyone and everything Jesus loves - the poor, life, sacrifice, self-giving.  "Do you love me?"  tells us to configure the love in our hearts according to his very own heart, causing our actions to be molded according to his actions.  This last phase entails the giving of the total self in conformity to the heart of the Lover.  And he wants us to feed his flock, his sheep.

Finally, go back and reflect on the words, "Obedience to God comes before obedience to men".  These words come from one who is committed to love, adore, and serve only Jesus.  That person is truly in love.