Readings: Genesis 3:22-24, John 10:1-10, John 21:15-19.

The Petrine ministry stands before the world in the Church established by Christ from the beginning at Pentecost. This pilgrimage of witness through the ages captures perfectly the fragile beauty of our humanity, perhaps in recent times this was no better on display than in the iconic image of Pope Francis alone in St. Peter’s Square, in the rain, during lockdown.

One man in a world of trouble and strife a mirror of our smallness before the vastness of creation. Yet, as small as we are, our lives matter, and our words matter. Our thoughts, words, and deeds cast a stone into an ocean of time, creating ripples that shape the present and guide the path we ought to follow into the future.

In today’s scripture, we meet, all together at the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus restores Peter after his threefold denial. This is an intimate and moving encounter, Jesus has chosen this moment when Peter has returned to what he knows, fishing, to cook breakfast and talk with him. A moment that mirrors Peter’s failure: just as he denied knowing Jesus three times, Jesus asks three times, “Do you love me?” We find that God’s mercy meets our fallenness in equal measure—a principle echoed in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus says, “Those who have been forgiven much, love much; those who have been forgiven little, love little” (Luke 7:47).

In this encounter, Jesus uses the Greek verb “agapas,” expressing the highest love—the sacrificial love He demonstrated on the cross. Yet Peter, who once boasted in John 13:37, “I will lay down my life for you,” had fled in fear. Now, in humility, aware that Jesus knows his heart and sees all things, Peter responds, “You know I love you,” using “philos,” a term of fraternal, brotherly affection. He no longer dares to claim the bold love he once professed.

Jesus is gentle, patient, and loving. Peter standing before his Friend, Teacher, Lord, and God—Jesus, who made Himself a little lower than the angels and, who now in His glorified body that transcends space and time— he feels unworthy. Who would or could feel worthy? Peter’s humility reflects his earlier confession, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8), and foreshadows his death, when, according to tradition, he asked to be crucified upside down, feeling unworthy to die as Jesus did.

When Jesus declares, “I am the gate” (John 10:9), this is to demonstrate He is the Way to the tree of life, and the house of God, the home within every heart, its door upon which He knocks. We see this first in God’s words to Cain: “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7).

As the Good Shepherd, with all things under His feet, for all things are under His authority, Jesus guards His sheep, ensuring they “come in and go out and find pasture” (John 10:9). This is a sign of protection, through a journey of repentance that transforms hearts and minds, for it is by the renewal of our minds that we can test and approve what is from God, for the Lord sees not as we see; and with Him, we can be certain of lacking no good thing.

This Way of repentance is not merely one of sorrow or rest but an active turning toward the good, the beautiful, and the true. It is a heart on fire with love for our common humanity—the human in me is the human in you, a bridge not of outward appearance but of God’s Wisdom hidden in our hearts, made manifest by our words and deeds. Like all people, we are called to run the race, fight the good fight, and long for Him (2 Timothy 4:7–8).

No one is worthy to walk in Christ’s footsteps, yet He loves us anyway. Peter, chosen as the rock upon which Christ would build His Church, rose to the challenge through humility. Empowered by the Spirit, he preached the Gospel at Pentecost, the day the Church began. Through his words and deeds, Peter fed Christ’s sheep then, and still now. Christ, the universal Shepherd, ensures His flock is never unguarded.

The Petrine ministry, for all Christians and all humanity, shines as a light in the world’s darkness when it reflects Peter’s humility—a fisherman called to walk with his Friend, and Brother, the Almighty God.

The keys to the gate of heaven were given to Peter, the shepherd in persona Christi. And just as Christ gathered him among the disciples, Peter then went out to gather us. After twice asking, “Do you love me?” with “agapas,” and receiving Peter’s “philos” in response, Jesus, in humility, uses “philos” the third time, in essence saying, “I am with you.”

He affirms that Peter will be worthy of the crown of righteousness given to all who finish the race set before them, by indicating the kind of death with which he would glorify God. Peter carried this humility through to his martyrdom, asking for his crucifixion upside down, a terrible end met with love and longing for our Lord and Saviour.

We follow the Way that begins, is, and always will be with Christ, walking in the Apostles’ footsteps. This Way of repentance lives in every moment. Respect for the Petrine office comes from a lifetime of witness and service, God working in and through us.

The sheep pen is like a house, this beautiful home in our hearts where we hold one another in love. Today at his inaugural mass, Pope Leo XIV, reflected on this scripture, and said, “Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus. Peter can carry out this task only because his own life was touched by the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of his failure and denial.”

How do we know that we have found the Way as God wills? St. John Henry Newman reminds us, “I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.”

So may it be for us. May we, too, do His work.

Amen.