Christmas Day, 2022, Holy Face

 Christmas III, Day

John 21:15-25 

Now is proclaimed the end of the entire Gospel, according to John in the 21^st chapter: 

After they had held their meal together,

Jesus said to Simon Peter: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?” 

Peter answered, "Lord, you know that I am your friend." 

Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." And he said to him again, a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?” 

Peter answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you." 

Jesus said to him, "Shepherd my young sheep." He asked him a third time, "Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?" 

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, 'Are you my friend,' and he answered, "Lord, you know all things; therefore, you know that I am devoted to you." 

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. Amen, the truth I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go." 

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, "Follow me." 

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, "Lord, who is it who betrays you?" When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what of this man; what is his task?" 

Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. You follow me." 

From this day, the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path." 

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written.

Christmas III, Day

December 25, 2022

John 21:15–26 

Every child is born for a purpose. At midnight we heard how the Christ Child was conceived. At dawn, we held him in our hearts in amazed reverence. And now, suddenly, the tender child-bud is fully grown. The gospel reading catapults us into the Child’s future, and the whole purpose of His life flashes before us. The man that the child will become already stands before us, not merely full grown, but already born yet again as the Risen One.

Friedrich Stockli

The Rose of Love has already blossomed from the crown of thorns. 

He is asking Peter, “Do you love me? Will you turn my love toward others? Will you share it? Will you nourish, guide, and protect them as I have nourished, guided, and protected you?” 

His first birth was a gift from the angels. We glimpse his approaching second blossoming, but one that is now intimately tied to us. We hear his words, “Do you love me?” and like Peter, it breaks our hearts. For now, the Rose would multiply. The Rose would be handed as healing to those who suffer, as food and drink to those who hunger and thirst. He needs human wills, turned to the good, to distribute the roses of healing and peace. 

“Do you love me?” 

And we answer in the words of Rilke: 

We will sense you

like a fragrance from a nearby garden…* 

Only in our doing can we grasp you

Only with our hands can we illumine you….**

The day’s labor grows simple now

and like a holy face

held in [our] my dark hands.*** 

 

*Rilke, The Book of Hours, Barrows and Macy, pg 122

**pg. 84

***pg. 147

www.thechristiancommunity.org

  

Christmas Day,

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

Now is proclaimed the end of the entire gospel according to John in the 21st chapter:

After they had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”.

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore, you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen, the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and

Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written.

Christmas III

Dec 25, 2016

John 21: 15-25

David Newbatt

At midnight, we heard about the great tree of Jesus's ancestry, rooted forty-two generations in the past and Joseph's protecting of the flower of that life. And then earlier this morning we heard the story of His birth, surrounded by the radiance of the heavenly Father's angels, reflected in the joyous hearts of the shepherds. This story wants to be re-enacted today, in the present, in every human heart.

And so now we hear the story of Christ and Peter, from the very end of all the Gospels. It is a story that points the way from the past, into the future. 

At the first Christmas, the Father's Love and Creative Power began the process of becoming human. He chose the body in which he would dwell. In this last reading of the day, from the end of John's Gospel, we hear the Risen Christ's threefold question to Peter: 'Do you love me?' We hear the high hope that Christ has for humanity. His hope is that He, the Being of Love, will become active in each of us. This is a hope that is still ever-present and faithfully carried in Christ's heart. For He has chosen the earthly bodies in which he would abide. 

The choice to respond is ours. His work of healing is a long range one. It carries us into the future, drenched with hope and grace. Later, another St. John, St. John of the Cross, converses with Christ:

"What is grace” I asked God.

 And He said,

 “All that happens.”

 Then He added, when I looked perplexed,

 “Could not lovers

say that every moment in their Beloved’s arms

was grace?

Existence is my arms,

though I well understand how one can turn

away from

me

until the heart has

wisdom.”*

*St. John of the Cross, "WHAT IS GRACE," in Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 321

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Christmas Day 2015, Peace Be

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

Now is proclaimed the end of the entire gospel according to John in the 21st chapter:

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”. Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written.

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

There is a story* about a hermit in the rugged mountains, who spent his life praying for his fellow human beings. Near his cave he had built a shrine to St. Nicholas, the protector of all travelers. He kept an oil lamp burning to show travelers the way. The track near his cave ran beside a deep chasm with strong violently gusting winds, which could sweep a traveler off his feet and into the ravine. It was said that it was an evil spirit who cast the people into the ravine. The hermit kept watch, and if he heard a cry, he would run with a rope to save lives.

One spring evening, on Good Friday as the hermit entered his cave, he heard a voice who asked to speak with him. It was the spirit of the mountain, asking him why the hermit prevented him from casting people into the abyss. The hermit answered that he loved human beings, as God’s youngest creatures, despite their errors and weaknesses.  ‘All that I do is in God’s name, for His love is great.’ The spirit said he would leave the travelers in peace if the hermit could prove that God’s love was greater than any other power. He gave the hermit three chances.

First the hermit told the story of how a shepherd, searching for a lost sheep, had been blown off the path. His daughter had come to look for him and tried to save him, but in the hermit’s absence both had perished. This example of familial love did not impress the spirit.

The next day he told of two soldiers, one of whom carried his wounded and abandoned friend up to the cave. The spirit was likewise not impressed with the love between friends.

That evening a robber, convinced that the hermit had money, beat him and left. When the hermit heard the familiar roar of the wind, and heard the cry, he staggered out and with his last strength threw the rope down to the robber and tied the other end to a rock, allowing the robber to escape. His soul left his body and hovered over it.

The mountain spirit came and spoke: can you see me? The soul answered , Yes now I can see you as you really are. The spirit asked, “Why did you do that? He murdered you!”

‘Love your enemies, my God has taught me,’ answered the saint.

Silence fell.  Then the mountain spirit said: ‘This is greater love than anything that I have ever known.  I shall keep my promise.  Farewell.’

‘Peace be with you’, said the saint.

*"The Saint and the Mountain Spirit" by Maja Muntz-Koundoury can be found in: The Easter Story Book (Floris Books, Edinburgh 1991). To purchase, click here.

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Christmas III, Day, December 25, 2014, Feed, Guide, Nourish

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

Now is proclaimed the end of the entire gospel according to John in the 21st chapter:

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here? Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”. Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?” Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written.

Christmas III, Day

December 25, 2014

John 21: 15-25

Christ came to earth as the seed of a new kind of human being. This new kind of human being is to rise in freedom above the compulsions of fear. It grows in the light of Truth. It perceives that the meaning of our existence on earth is to learn how to love.

Three times before the crucifixion, Peter had denied any relationship to Christ, the Being of Love. And after the resurrection, he is given the chance to redeem himself:  three times Christ asks him, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter is given instructions about the path of love: nourish and guide what is developing within those who are on the path of love. Feed my little ones; guide, shepherd the growing ones; feed the grown. Keep their evolving souls alive.

This is the task of the Peter who exists in all of us. Loving God means finding ways to support God’s growth within our fellow human beings; feeding and supporting their spirits, their soul, perhaps even their bodies. And we do so by being guided and fed by the one who called himself, whom we call, the Good Shepherd. For as the poet says:

Who shall keep thy sheep,

Lord, and lose not one?

Who save one shall keep,

Lest the shepherds sleep?

Who beside the Son?

…

The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be?

My God, no hymn for Thee?

My soul's a shepherd too; a flock it feeds

Of thoughts, and words, and deeds.

The pasture is Thy words; the streams, Thy grace

Enriching all the place.

Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers

Out-sing the daylight hours.

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3rd Holy Night 2009, Freedom and Submission

Holy Nights

John 21: 15-25

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”.

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that  Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written. 

Holy Nights

December 27, 2009

John 21:15-25

  

“When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.” John 21:18

These words of Christ to Peter sum up an archetypal pattern in human lives:

Tree of Life

there are periods when we are called upon to exercise an active will; and there are other times when we are subject to greater forces of destiny, beyond our control. These two poles, active self will, and being subject to outside forces, are two strands that run through our entire lives. It is our human task to find a balance and meaning between these strands—to exercise our freedom to choose and to do where we can, and to accept the greater forces of destiny where we must.

Today’s reading is taken from an episode that occurs after Christ’s life, death and resurrection. His own life and death are an archetypal image of how we can work with the two strands. In the beginning and middle of His life, he worked tirelessly at His mission of teaching and healing. He worked and prayed to His Father, in order to manifest His Father’s light and love on the earth.  And when the time came for Him to be subject unto death, He again asks for His Father’s help. Christ, the Son of God, asks in humble surrender—not my will, but Thine be done. Matthew 26:42, Luke 22:42

His entire life, both in the outwardly active times, and in times of submission, was centered on bringing the divine, the Father’s will, into revelation on earth.

This is indeed the true purpose of our human lives—to bring the Glory of God, the Father’s radiant good will in the heights, down into revelation on the earth. We pray this in the lines that Christ taught us to pray—Your will be done on earth as it is in the heavens. Matthew 6:10 Our uniting with the will of the Father is what cleanses our own will of its potential egotism. Receiving our will from the divine realms ensures that it is good will, will devoted to the good of the earth and mankind. Uniting our will with the Christ’s will, devoted to supporting others, is what brings peace onto the earth.

Christmas III, Day, December 25, 2013, Love that Nurtures

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

Now is proclaimed the end of the entire gospel according to John in the 21^st chapter:

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”.

Do You Love Me?

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that  Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written.

Christmas III, Day

December 25, 2013

John 21: 15 – 26

On the day when we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, this reading may seem an odd choice. Yet hidden in this story from the end of all the gospels is the secret, the goal of humanity’s future.

It is after Christ’s resurrection. He has fed his disciples bread and fish, after they had fished all night. After feeding them, the Risen One asks Peter three times about his love. He indicates that Peter’s love for Christ is to develop into a love for others, a love that nurtures. He gives the image of feeding lambs, of shepherding young sheep, feeding the full-grown. It is a love with a maternal quality, at once tender and at the same time objective. This love that Christ asks us to develop could be summed up by saying: Give them what they need.

Odd perhaps too is the prediction of death that follows. Yet perhaps not so odd, since the only thing that survives death is an active, objective love. And this is the secret of humanity’s future: that we develop ourselves to become mothers, Virgin-Mothers, giving birth to the Christ within; feeding and guiding the Christ within others, giving them what they need.  Today our resolve along the long path of development toward this our goal on earth can be renewed in the words of the poet:

Carl Bloch

Now let the sky more brightly beam,

The earth take up the joyous theme:

The orb a broadening pathway gains

And with its erstwhile splendour reigns.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1]  Hymn XI From Cathemerinon ("The Hymns of Prudentius"), Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-405), Translated by R. Martin Pope. 

Christmas Day 2007, Find and Serve

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

(The End of the Four Gospels)

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”.

Govert Flinck

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that  Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written. 

Christmas III, Day

December 25, 2007

John 21.15-25 [the end of all the Gospels]

Today the future of all mankind shines into the beginning of Christ’s Incarnation. The One whose coming was announced to Joseph in a midnight dream has already risen from the dead. The One whose arrival was announced by angels to the shepherds has Himself become the Good Shepherd. And He wants to pour His Good Shepherd qualities into human hearts.

In devotion to Christ, out of our love for Him, we are to feed His lambs, shepherd His young sheep, feed His sheep. There may be spiritual ‘thieves and robbers’ at loose in the world, who use deception and desire to lure the soul. Yet three times He asks, “Do you love Me?” and three times we awaken to an ever deeper love. Deeper and deeper does His love for us, and ours for Him, pour into our hearts. He pours Himself into us until our hearts are full and our seeing is clear. And we know:

No one anywhere can keep us

From carrying the Beloved wherever we go.

No one can rob His precious Name [the Good Shepherd]

From the rhythm of [our] my heart[s]—

Steps and breath.[1]

But any unkindness to [ourselves] yourself,

Any confusion about others,

Will keep [us] one

From accepting the grace, the love,

The sublime freedom

Divine knowledge always offers….[2]

There are always friends of God in this world.

Find one and offer service.

For their glance is generous and cannot help

But forever give.[3]

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Hafiz, “Carrying God”, in Tonight the Subject is Love, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 53.

[2] Ibid. “This is the Place Where You are Right Now”, p. 12.

[3] Ibid. “Narrow the Difference”, p. 37.

Christmas Day 2008, Not Yet

Christmas III

John 21: 15-25

(End of the Four Gospels) 

After they had had held their meal together, Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others here?

Grunewald

Peter answered, “Lord you know that I am your friend”.

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

And he said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my young sheep.”

He asked him a third time, “Simon, Son of John, Are you my friend?”

Peter was heartbroken that he could say to him the third time, ‘Are you my friend’, and he answered, “Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I am devoted to you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Amen the truth I say to you, when you were younger you girded yourself and walked wherever you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

He told him this to indicate the kind of death by which he would bring the divine to revelation. Then he said to him, “Follow me.”

But Peter, turning, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following him. He was the one who had leaned upon his breast at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it who betrays you?”  When Peter now saw him, his asked, “Lord, what of this man, what is his task?”

Jesus said to him: If is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path. Follow me…”

From this day the story spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until my coming, that does not affect your path.”

This is the disciple who here bears witness to these things and who has written all this. And we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that  Jesus did. If they were to be written down one by one, I do not think that the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written. 

Christmas III, Day

December 25, 2008

John 21: 15 -25

Mornings the sun rises and ascends ever higher. And as it ascends, it warms the earth. Life stirs, people wake up and move about their business.

This is the third Christmas Act of Consecration, the Service of Day. At midnight we celebrated the Light that overcomes darkness, bringing new life and hope. At dawn we celebrated the healing warmth of the Love that entered the earthly realm with the birth of the Christ Child.

And now it is Day. And in the full light of day-waking consciousness we hear, from the end of all the gospels, the Risen Christ’s own hope and warmth expressed for all of mankind. This hope, God’s hope, is framed in a question that rings out three times;

“Do you love Me?” John 21: 15 - 17

For He has been born; He lived, died and rose again – for our sake. He did so in order to implant divine love into human hearts. And now He peers into hearts and seeks for it there.  “Do you love Me? Did what I tried to implant in human hearts, a love-seed, take root?”

Arild Rosenkrantz

For, in the words of an early mystic:

In love did He bring the world

into being, and in love

does He guide its difficult

slow-seeming journey now

through the arc of time. In love will He

one day bring all the world to a wondrous,

transformed state, and utterly

in love will it be taken wholly up

into the great mystery of the One

who has performed these things—and all of this

so that in love absolutely will the course

and form and governance of all creation

at long last be comprised.[1]

There is a measure of birthing pain in today’s reading: the pain of the ‘not yet’. For we all, like Peter, deny the Christ in us. But just as Peter was given the opportunity to reaffirm and redirect his love, so too this year we are given a chance to start over; to say with our hearts and souls, as many times as He asks us: Yes, Lord, Your love is quickening in my heart. Yes, Lord, I am devoted to You. Yes, I will nourish and care for those, young and old, who are Your little ones.

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[1] St. Isaac of Nineveh (†700) “Love’s Purpose”, in Love’s Immensity, Mystics on the Endless Life, by Scott Cairns, p. 74.