Word Salad!
I went to a Knight of Columbus meeting. I saw one of my fellow Knights by the name of Leo. Great Guy! He was a former Grand Knight. Like me he is an active senior and all in all a very intelligent man. Later the same week Leo fell. He broke bones and went to the hospital. The doctors performed surgery and is he now headed to rehab. Leo is in good spirits but has hurdles.
Even in today’s world many times we don’t understand others who say things. It is not just what they say. It is change that leaves us in a fog. We don’t understand how life can change so quickly. In Scripture we have to delve deep to find out what the text is trying to say and what significance it means to us in May of 2024.
John 21:18-19 Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
At Fort Benning, GA the Infantry mottuto was ” Follow Me” and it was the sign of a military leader. Jesus is giving that slogan to Peter. Peter didn’t know it, but it meant dying on a cross following Jesus. In the meantime, Peter would feed His sheep, which we are descendants. Nonetheless, it is not up to Church bishops and priests to fed. It is up to us as well.
When we destroy a human spirit, we are not feeding. I work with a man named, Mike, and he is not Catholic, but he married a Catholic woman. Mike was 35 and his wife was 27. Neither had ever married. The lady who gave them Pre-Canna counseling, told them not to get married because in her opinion their marriage would never work. They have been married 15 years and happen with two children, who go to parochial school. The lady who advised them was not bad, but she was not a leader, and she certainly did not feed His sheep.
When Jesus said in other scripture to pick up our cross and follow Him, He is predicting that we will have obstacles, but we must feed ourselves and others. This becomes clearer as we follow Jesus. When we feed others, we prove that we are leaders, and we love Jesus. Just like Saint Peter, Saint Paul was eventually headed for Rome.
So they came here with me, and I wasted no time but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day and had the man brought in. When confronted with him, his accusers did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected; but they had some argument or other with him about their own religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to be alive. Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue. But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgement of the august emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar.’
Neither Saint Paul, Saint Peter, Leo or I know what is in our future. The most important thing is to feed His lambs and feed His sheep and to follow Him.
Pray for Leo!
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. Pray for peace!
