Follow Me! Where Lord? The questions of the Apostle Philip, whose feast day is May 3rd, and Thomas recorded at the Last supper in Chapter 14 of the Gospel, “Master, we do not know were you are going, how can we know the way? Followed by the request of Philip, ‘show us the father and that will be enough for us! And Jesus’ ending remarks, The Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves, Amen! Amen! I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these because I am going to the Father.” That is enough for a life time of meditation, but seems an important perspective to have in hearing this last chapter from John’s Gospel, really the last chapter of all the gospels, as Scholars say it was in its final form only in the 90s, and so it is particularly interesting that even 30 years after Peter’s death, 60 years after his denial of knowing Jesus, Simon, Shimon in Hebrew, who becomes know as Peter, the Rock or Rocky is still held in a place of primacy in following the Lord. Follow me!
We are pilgrims not tourists. This is a theme that is really the basis of the recent book by Matthew Kelly, 33 days to Eucharistic Glory. He writes, “We are all pilgrims, Life is a pilgrimage. It is a sacred journey toward a very specific destination. But we forget this, or have never been taut it, or we get distracted and fall into thinking we are tourists. We aren’t we are pilgrims.” It is true of Peter, it is true of all of the apostles, it is ultimately true of the church. We are all pilgrims. We are just passing through this world. Pope Francis’ favorite theme of synod, walking together, reflects this reality. Too many are inclined to make themselves tourists of the faith, something we observe and collect souvenirs, but really do not become true pilgrims following the Lord, led by Peter and the apostles and their successors called to be fishers of men.
I finally was able to see, this week, a young friend from Medicine Lodge who went to the Europe, including Rome, by herself to be in the Eternal City in February. It was a bit of a let down that her experience of Rome was “It was so busy, and so hard to get around, and I didn’t know the language. If I only would have had someone to show me and explain things.’ I really expected her being overjoyed at the tomb of St. Peter, being with Pope Francis in his time of hospitalization, going through the holy doors, would have been an overwhelming spiritual experience, but her peace from Fatima was her overwhelming spiritual high of Europe in comparison to the chaos of Rome. I think that maybe she was freer to be just a pilgrim in Portugal, but was swept into the tourist mode of Rome, trying to see and do everything, caught up in the crowds of tourists.
It is remarkable to note that in the acts of the Apostles, it records that Peter and the apostles,..and the apostles, say, “We must obey God rather than men!” It is an important placement of Simon Peter in his place of supremacy, speaking for them all. It is important as the conclave begins this Wednesday, May 7th, to note that the media has co-opted the event as an election to report, as tourists who have made their way to Rome to observe a show, rather than seeing the whole process as a communal exercise in faith to follow the Lord. The Successor of Peter, inheriting both the denial of our Lord and the profound profession of his faith, not only his faith, but his love of the Lord, three times repented, will be chosen to lead us together through this pilgrimage through this world, through the 3rd millennium with our Lord on our way to the Father. Paul, will say, when they start calling him Zeus in Athens, responds that, “I am just a man like you, proclaiming Jesus Christ, and him crucified, but that he rose on the third day, and now reigns at the right hand of his Father, and our Father. It was so inspiring to hear the late Pope Francis in the interview after his selection as the 266th successor to Peter, to the question, who is Jorge Berglio, say humbly, “I am a sinner, pray for me!” Like St. Peter, every successor will carry this burden of the side of each one us that denies the Lord, our wounded and fallen nature, and hopefully, more profoundly, the side that “you know that I love you Lord”, the redeemed and sanctified side. The prophesy at the end, 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.” In some way, it rings true of all of us on pilgrimage, but especially those called to witness in the profound way of the apostles, those who are sent.” Follow me!
The church wisely, ends our passage today at verse 21,, but I, probably unwisely want to distract you with the final five verses of the Gospel of John. As John comes toward Jesus and Peter, interrupting this intimate conversation of Jesus and the Lord, Peter asks the curious question, “what about him?. And the strange reply of Jesus, “What if I want him to remain until I come?” Then the real conclusion, “It is this disciple who testifies, and we might add, who remains to testify, to these things, and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. Then this beautiful line of a true pilgrim, “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not thing the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”
As pilgrims, we join that united voice we hear in John’s vision; I think of his long life as a special kind of martyrdom, the sole survivor, if you will, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing”. And the new Pope chosen will lead us in that refrain by offering his life as witness in the heritage of the apostles all who died witnessing to Christ as martyrs, with the exception of the beloved Disciple, who lived as an exile on the island of Patmos into the age of visions, who still speaks to us today.
Who do we follow? We follow Christ, but through the successor of Peter, have been given this deep connection with Peter’s profession of faith and love. And that gives us hope, pilgrims of hope together in this Jubilee year of 2025.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ogbl#inbox/FMfcgxwLsJrrfQXcmFSnRlJgFdpqvdGc
http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20201208_patris-corde.html
http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html