Feed My Sheep

For the Gospel passage this Sunday, we will hear Jesus asking Peter three times, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"  Initially, we can recognize that this is Jesus reaffirming Peter's love for Him after Peter denied Him three times; but, additionally, we can see Peter's change of heart not only in his response, but also in his desire to jump into the water after Him which precedes his response.  This is a big deal because early in the Gospel, it was Peter that got out of the boat, but sank into the water because he was afraid; it was also because of his fear that he denied Jesus.  By swimming to shore, he disregarded any fear and proclaimed his faith and love for Christ, and Jesus responds, "Feed My Sheep", and "Follow Me.".

Throughout our lives, Christ will ask us if we love Him more than 'these'; 'these' being the things that keep us from living a full life, and 'these' meaning the fear that can cripple us from following Christ to the point of 'death'.  As I reflect on the last 3 years of my time here with SPIRITUS, I am awed at how Christ keeps asking me if I love Him more than 'these' and if I will feed His sheep, and follow after Him.  When I came to SPIRITUS, I definitely had a lot of things that were holding me back from jumping out of the boat, and professing my love for Christ.  Each year, as those things diminish in stature, so increases my joy, my gifts that God wants me to share with people, and my purpose and Vocation in life.  And as each year progressed, Christ has been in more control- like Peter, I feel Christ, "dressed me" and "tells me where to go" which will glorify Him the most-and it is more clear where He wants me to go.  Being on the team, and being a leader for the team has given me an openness to where Christ wants me to go, and now, I am more apt to respond, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

Speaking of Feeding the Sheep, I want to invite any men to consider becoming  'fishers of men' for SPIRITUS.  We are currently accepting applications for the next year SPIRITUS Teams (and yes, there are 2 teams now!). So if you are thinking about how to best serve the Lord, pray about joining the SPIRITUS Team, check out our website www.spiritusonline.org, or email me, Mark Rose, spiritusmdr@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Peace be with you all,

Mark Rose
SPIRITUS Coordinator