Aside from the Blessed Mother, I
think Peter is my favorite saint. For of all the men and women in the New Testament,
we are given, I think, a clearer picture of Peter’s personality, beliefs, strengths,
and weaknesses probably than any other, and that includes the Apostle Paul,
whose writings and the stories of his missionary travels make up something like
a quarter of the New Testament.
What do we know about Peter?
Well, he was bold – he was the only
one of the twelve who climbed out of that boat to walk on water toward Jesus,
even if he did lose faith and sink.
He was filled with faith and fearless
to proclaim it – “Lord, where would we go, you have the words of everlasting
life?” he said.
He was proud – “you’ll never wash my
feet, Lord.”
He was filled with bravado: “Lord, I
am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”
He was weak as he abandoned the
Lord, denying Him three times, proclaiming “I don’t know the man,” just as the
rooster started to crow.
He was filled with zeal - it was
Peter that raced John to the empty tomb that Easter Sunday morn.
And Peter deeply loved the Lord: “Lord,
you know everything; you know that I love you.”
So Peter gives us great comfort, huh? We can identify with Peter, a great saint and
our first Pope, yes, but a real flesh and blood human being.
And there was one other thing that
Peter was – he was a sinner, as he honestly and humbly recognizes and confesses
in this Gospel passage: “Depart from me, Lord, for I
am a sinful man.”
If you’re like me, those words
strike a nerve, touch me deep down inside, for I often find me praying them
myself.
Depart from me, Lord, for I am a
sinful man.
Now if we stop to think about these
words, and think about all the things that would happen in Peter and Jesus’
relationship after that life-changing day, and think about what we know and believe
about this Jesus fellow, well we’d conclude that this sentence – “depart from
me Lord for I am a sinful man” - is about the most ludicrous thing anyone has
ever said!
For a couple reasons.
First, Peter is asking Jesus to do
something that’s - impossible.
They say nothing is impossible for God, but I’m not sure that’s true –
for I think there are some things that Our Lord just doesn’t know how to do,
and departing from us, stopping His love for us, is one of those things.
No matter what we’ve done. No matter how sinful a man I am, no matter
how sinful people we are. We may depart
from Him, and in our sin we do, for a moment or maybe for much of our lives,
but He can’t, He won’t, EVER depart from us.
And that is mercy. That is the
love that He always has for each one of us.
After Peter denied the Lord three
times, abandoned His friendship in the hour of the Lord’s greatest need, and perhaps
watched from a distance as Jesus was nailed to the cross, Peter would have been
especially tempted to say “depart from me, Lord.” But after the resurrection,
there they were, gathered around a breakfast campfire, and three times the Lord
asked Peter “do you love me,” and by Peter’s “yes, Lord” and the Lord’s mercy, was
reconciled to Him.
So like Peter, you and I should
always be open and honest and humbly admit our sinfulness, admit when we have
departed from Him, and seek that bottomless font of mercy which forever springs
from Our Lord’s Sacred Heart!
But there’s a second reason that what
Peter says “depart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man” is so ludicrous, and that
is this. It’s not only that the Lord won’t
stop loving us, <pause> but the Lord needs us. You see, He has a mission for you, for me, for
all of us, the Church, together. We have
to discern what that is, but he’s not going to let us off the hook with a
simple, “sorry, Lord, I’m not worthy.”
Just like the prophet Isaiah, a man
of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, and just like the
Apostle Paul, “least among the apostles,” he says, “not fit to be called an
apostle” because of his persecution of the Church, even just like Peter who
abandoned and denied the Lord, there’s work to be done, the Lord’s work.
And in God’s wisdom, or maybe foolishness,
or even sense of humor, Our Blessed Lord doesn’t call the perfect to carry on
His mission, to preach His words, to heal His sick, to comfort the grieving. He calls sinners, you and me.
There’s always a temptation to say,
like Peter, Lord, I’m not worthy. But
here’s the thing – He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. I remember as I was just beginning to discern
a call to the permanent diaconate, I went to a deacon information night, and I
distinctly recall Deacon Dave Palma addressing someone’s concern about “not
being worthy enough,” maybe it was mine. What Deacon Palma
said is this: “You’re right. You’re not
worthy. Now get over it.”
We’ll soon pray the words of the
centurion, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” For
truth be told, none of us are “worthy” of the call we’ve received.
But the next sentence is this, “but
only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” God gives us all the grace, all
the healing, all the strength necessary to carry out that little part of His great
mission that is my mission, that is your mission, that as a parish and Church
is our mission. He gave us that grace at
our baptisms, when we were anointed priest prophet and king <<just like
He will once again right after Mass when little Charlotte and Allaiza are
welcomed into His Church as His newest disciples>>.
And He especially gives us that
grace right here at His altar where He feeds us with very His own Body and
Blood, His own life.
So, sisters and brothers, whatever
God is calling us to:
- whether it’s a
vocation - to be loving and faithful husbands to our wives, wives to our husbands,
parents to our children;
- whether it’s
to be loving, devoted and faithful priests of the Lord; or deacon servants at
His altar and for His people;or vowed religious;
- whether it’s
to live a chaste, holy and devoted single or widowed life;
- or whether it’s
any of the myriad of ministries and ways of service Our Lord may be calling us –
music, service at Mass, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and dying,
visiting the imprisoned –
know this – “I’m
not worthy” is a lame excuse. He won’t
hear of it. He won’t depart from
us; and He won’t stop calling us.
For His mission – the salvation and
sanctification of the world - and our little corner of it, brothers and
sisters, depends on you and me saying “yes.” “Here I am, Lord, send me!”
