“DO YOU LOVE ME more than these?” (Jn. 21:15)
This question, posed by the Risen Lord to Peter on the shore of Galilee, is one that every disciple must allow to penetrate the depths of his or her heart. When Jesus asks a question in the Gospel, He is not simply seeking information. He knows our hearts better than we know ourselves. His questions are at the service of communion as He seeks to draw us into an intimate relationship with Him. Jesus reveals the vulnerability of His own Heart as He awaits our response. The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” teaches that “prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him” (CCC #2560). Jesus thirsts for our love, and He asks for our response throughout each moment of our lives. Every day, in the concrete and ordinary circumstances of our lives, we are invited to listen to His invitation: “Do you love me? Will you choose Me here?”
And yet, we don’t always choose Jesus and His way. We are enticed by lesser loves, fickle in our relationship with Him and tempted to choose things that are contrary to the life of a disciple. Temptations arise from our human weakness and the fallen state of our world around us. Being tempted is not a sin; even Jesus was tempted in the desert before He began His public ministry, and He continued to choose His Father’s will over the enticements of the Enemy.
The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” assures us that “the Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man and temptation, which leads to sin and death” (CCC #2847). There is a distinction between experiencing temptation and consenting to it. Temptations often may look attractive and seemingly good, but they ultimately lead to the destruction of being separated from God.
Temptations reveal what we will settle for, what we are like when no one is around and what we avoid facing within ourselves. God desires to receive the gift of our love and waits for us to freely choose Him. Each moment of our day, grace is available to strengthen our ability to choose God over everything else.
The next time you are faced with a temptation, realize that you are still free to choose the good that Jesus is offering in that moment of trial. Moreover, we are invited into the mystery of God’s love in a new way that is often overlooked. Jesus delights in being chosen by us in moments of darkness and struggle. His Heart rejoices when we freely turn to Him and offer ourselves in love in the present moment, and in doing so, we console His Heart.
Our current circumstance in the present moment is where our freedom, that is our ability to choose good, is exercised. When we choose Him in the now, amid distraction, temptation or weakness, we are drawn closer to Jesus, who is always choosing us. The present moment intersects with eternity. The “eternal now” becomes a meeting place to encounter His desire for our love\ and our free response, “Yes, Lord, I love You.”