Saints for June 10
Amata of San Sisto
Amantius of Tivoli
Amelberga
Aresius
Asterius of Petra
Bardo of Mainz
Basilides of Rome
Bogumilus of Gnesen
Bonaventura Baduario of Peraga
Brigid of Ireland
Caspar Sadamazu
Caerealis of Tivoli
Censurius of Auxerre
Crispulus of Rome
Diana d’Andalò
Edward Johannes Maria Poppe
Evermund of Fontenay
Getulius of Tivoli
Gezelin
Henry of Treviso

Illadan of Rathlihen
Ithamar of Rochester
John Baptist Souzy
John Dominici de Banchini
John Nicholas Cordier
John of Tobolsk
Joseph Imbert
Landericus of Novalese
Landericus of Paris
Mandal of Rome
Maria Magdalena of Carpi
Maurinus of Cologne
Maximus of Naples
Primitivus of Tivoli
Restitutus of Rome
Rogatius
Timothy of Prusa
Tripos of Rome
Walter Pierson
Zacharias of Nicomedia
saints.sqpn.com/10-june

JUNE 10, 2011
DAILY PRAYER WITH REGNUM CHRISTI

LOVE DEMANDS A LOVING RESPONSE
June 10, 2011
Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Father Walter Schu, LC

John 21:15-19
After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast
with them, he said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love
me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I
love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He then said to him a
second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him,
"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my
sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you
love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,
"Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you
know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 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."
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you and all that you have
revealed for our salvation. I hope in you because of your overflowing
mercy. Every single act of yours on this earth demonstrated your love
for us. Your ascent into heaven before the eyes of the Apostles
inspires my hope of one day joining you there. I love you and wish
you to be the center of my life.
Petition: Lord, help me to respond with love to your self-giving
love.
1. "Do You Love Me?" The moment for which Christ has been preparing
ever since his Resurrection has arrived. He is alone with Peter.
Their last encounter before Jesus' death was that sad occasion when
Christ looked at Peter, forgiving him after his threefold denial. Now
Christ takes Peter a little apart from the others and gives him the
opportunity to affirm a threefold pledge of his love. The one,
supreme condition for Christ to renew Peter's commission to tend his
sheep is Peter's love for his Master. Love is the one, supreme
condition for each of us who aspires to be an apostle. Peter's love
has been purified by his betrayal of Christ during the Passion: It
has been chastened and humbled. Now Peter entrusts everything -- even
his love -- into Christ's hands: "Yes, Lord, you know that I love
you." Do my failures enable me to love Christ more, with greater
trust?
2. "Can Love Be Commanded?" Pope Benedict XVI poses a provocative
question in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love). How
can Christ demand love from us in order for us to be his followers,
his apostles? Pope Benedict clarifies, "Love cannot be commanded; it
is ultimately a feeling that is either there or not, nor can it be
produced by the will" (no. 16). The response to this apparent
quandary is twofold. In the first place, love can be commanded
because it has first been given. "God does not demand of us a
feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us,
he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has
‘loved us first,' love can also blossom as a response within
us" (no. 17). Secondly, "it is clearly revealed that love is not
merely a sentiment. Sentiments come and go. A sentiment can be a
marvelous first spark, but it is not the fullness of love" (no. 17).
3. "Love in Its Most Radical Form" What, then, is the essence of
love, that love which Christ first gave to us and which he in turn
demands of us as his followers? "It is characteristic of a mature
love that it calls into play all man's potentialities; it engages the
whole man, so to speak. Contact with the visible manifestations of
God's love can awaken within us a feeling of joy born of the
experience of being loved. But this encounter also engages our will
and our intellect. Acknowledgment of the living God is one path
towards love, and the ‘yes' of our will to his will unites our
intellect, will and sentiments in the all-embracing act of love"
(Deus Caritas Est, no. 17). As Pope John Paul Great has phrased it so
many times, true love is the gift of one's entire self.
Conversation with Christ: Thank you, Lord, for helping me to see,
through Pope John Paul the Great and Pope Benedict XVI, the meaning
of authentic love. Thank you for your limitless love for me. Your
love is the standard to which my own poor love must rise.
Resolution: I will give myself to Christ today in acts of love that
embrace my whole person: intellect, will and sentiments.
meditation.regnumchristi.org