Do You Love Me?
A Reflection on this Friday’s Gospel (John 21:15-19) – 17 May 2024
Years ago, while in Rome, my wife and I decided to go out on a beautiful summer day along the Appian Way and visit the Catacombs. It was a crowded and hot ride on the bus from the center of Rome through traffic to the Catacombs of St Callixtus. It was a great relief when we stepped into the coolness of the catacombs.
Our guide had an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the catacombs and the famous buried there. As we made a turn along a passage, we came upon an open tomb with a light shining above it. In the crumbling niche lay the marble form of a young woman who had been discovered there in 1599. The image was sculpted to depict the woman as she had been found, incorrupt, beautiful, veiled, wearing a gold embroidered dress, and even in death, professing Christ. Our guide told us that the image depicted St Cecilia. The statue in the catacombs is a copy of the marble image which lays over the tomb under the altar where her remains were transferred in the Church of her name in the Trastevere of Rome.
St Cecelia was martyred for her faith, along with her husband and his brother, during the early third century. In the catacomb niche, St Cecelia lays as she was discovered, on her right side, wearing a long dress with her hands in front of her legs as if they had been tied. Her head and face are shrouded and turned away making the back of her neck visible, displaying the cuts made by the executioner’s axe. As she was found, even St Cecelia’s hands profess her faith. Her right hand proclaims the Trinity, with her thumb, index, and middle finger extended (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and two other fingers folded back. Her left forefinger points not to herself but away, to Christ. St Cecilia persevered until the end in her love of Jesus.
In the moment, I was amazed at the beauty of the young woman, and I became uniquely unaware of the crowd around me. It seemed to me, just she and I. It was then that I heard the haunting words of our guide. He said, “It is easy to talk about our faith, attend Mass, and talk about our love for Christ. But today, I ask you; Would you die for love of Him?”
Standing before the tomb of St Cecilia, not some distant legend, but now very real to me, the question, “Would you die for love of Christ?” really hit home. Would I, would you, die for Him as He did for us? Jesus is asking the same question in the Gospel today; “Do you love me? Will you abandon all for love of me? Do you love me more than these?" (John 21:15 NABRE)
The Lord asks St Peter three times in the Gospel of John 21, “Do you love me?” The number three is used symbolically as the number of unity and completion. Three encompasses the beginning, the middle, and the end. In the Blessed Trinity (three), there is complete unity. Jesus was in the tomb for three days. His mission of redemption was complete, perfect. Three times, St Peter denies the Lord, his denial is complete. In the Gospel today, the Lord asks St Peter three times, “Do you love me?” In other words, in having denied me completely, will you now profess your love for me, completely, perfectly? Will you reject all that holds you back, your attachment to the world and fear? “Do you love me more than these?” If so, the Lord tells St Peter, your every action must profess that love, “feed my lambs … tend my sheep … feed my sheep.” The Lord affirms St Peter’s love by telling him that he will not even withhold his life for love of Christ and His Church. St Peter will die for Him, a witness for, and to, the love of Christ.
In the Gospel today, the Lord is asking each one of us; “Do you love me?” He is not asking for some form of superficial “spiritual” love. He is asking us to love Him completely, not a concept or doctrine, but resurrected, alive, fully God and fully human. He is asking us; “Do you love me more than these?” Will you forsake all for love of me? Will you die for me?
If so, die to self that you may feed His little ones with the Gospel of Love. Tend with love, not judgement, the flock of His Church, even those you do not care for. Feed all with love.” The Lord is asking us to love Him completely, to step away from our earthly agendas, fear, and self-pride. He is asking us to keep our eyes on Him, as did St Cecelia and all the martyrs, to profess love completely. He is calling us to abandonment, mortification, to die to self that we might live in Him.
Today, Christ asks you; “Do you love me?” He then commands, “Follow me!”
St Cecelia; Ora pro nobis!
End Notes:
New American Bible. Revised Edition. Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011. Print.
Tutt’Art, Z. B. (2021, March 1). Saint Cecilia: Patroness of Musicians. Tutt’Art@ | Pittura * Scultura * Poesia * Musica. https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2019/01/Saint-Cecilia-Patroness-of-Music.html#google_vignette
Well, this causes one to pause and think! Thank you!!!
I think that very few of us will ever have to answer this question with actual martyrdom. Yet we can and should answer it with “dying to ourselves” and all of the worldly trappings we have let into our lives.