The call to spread the gospel within our modern society and to renew the gospel message in places that have already heard the gospel but have departed from a life of discipleship must be answered by a personal witness of gospel love.  Simply professing a faith in God and experiencing a love for Jesus is not enough to compel others to believe in our Risen Lord and his eternal, real presence among the people of this world.  The faith we have in God and the love we experience for Jesus must be shared by a humble and simple commitment to serving others in love.  The New Evangelization that has been given as a challenge for the Church in our modern age will not be merely a matter of new words and reworked liturgies but must extend out into the streets in acts of charity and service to the poor and most vulnerable in our world.  There must be a renewed commitment within the Church to not only profess our faith but to live that faith as a credible witness of gospel love in the world.  The New Evangelization will be seen in the way in which we practice our faith by acts of charity and service.  We can not only point to the way in which our life of faith and our personal relationship with the Lord serves us in our own private lives but we must show how our faith serves others in our society, especially those most in need.

     “Do you love me?”  Today in our gospel we are challenged, as was St. Peter, by this simple question that Jesus presents to his most impulsive disciple.  Jesus has just offered his life as a sacrificial offering, an oblation of love, to heal the wounds of sin in a broken world.  Peter himself has experienced his own personal weakness and need of healing and forgiveness.  The encounter with the Risen Lord has been an experience of true joy in new hope that comes with forgiveness and reconciliation.  In his death and resurrection, Jesus has given Peter a real gift and a sign of God’s eternal love for him.  When someone does something wonderful and meaningful for us, we experience a deep sense of love and gratitude for the gift that was given.  It is easy to love someone when they have rescued us from certain destruction.  Certainly Peter’s love for the Lord has never been greater than on this occasion of their reunion when they are able to share an intimate moment together on this quiet walk.  However, it is one thing to experience the deep feelings of love that bond us to another and quite another thing to live out that love in a daily offering of our self to the other.  Love must become something more than a warm feeling of affection and certainly something more than a dependence on the other in our weakness.  Love must become a commitment to service.  Love touches us in our weakness and vulnerability but it must move forward and grow into a discovery of our strength and greatness.  Love is not just surrendering to the truth that I need the other in my life but it is also embracing the truth that I have something to offer to the other that they need in their life.  “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”  Peter surrenders himself to the fathomless love of our Lord and loses himself in this love, but in the manner of the Paschal Mystery, he must also now find himself reborn in this love to a new life of service.  “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.”  The gospel of the Risen Christ calls us to a radical obedience to the demands of love that are thrust upon us, not because we want to do this but because we are compelled by the need we see in the world around us, a need that Christ shares with the poor and most vulnerable.  If we love Christ, we must serve Christ in the poor and needy in our world.

     I would hazard a guess that most of the people that come to church on Sunday would profess a love for the Lord.  “Lord you know everything; you know that I love you.”  Loving Jesus is easy, he is a lovable guy.  However, when it comes time to prove our love for the Lord in giving, serving and sacrificing for others in need we fall short.  “Feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep.”   St. John challenges us in his letter to the Church asserting that we cannot say that we love God who we cannot see if we don’t love our neighbor who we can see.  Don’t just say that you love the Lord, let others see your love for the Lord in concrete acts of charity that you offer to your neighbor in need.  Be a visible witness to love in our world today.