May 4, 2025 - Third Sunday of Easter
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
On this Third Sunday of Easter, we hear the powerful story of Peter’s restoration at the Sea of Tiberias. The disciples have gone back to fishing, back to what was familiar, perhaps trying to make sense of everything that had happened. And yet, after a long, empty night, it is only when Jesus appears — standing quietly on the shore — that everything changes.
At His word, the nets overflow with fish. At His presence, hope is restored. It is Peter who jumps into the water to meet Jesus — Peter, who had once denied Him, now throws himself forward in love. And Jesus, in His great tenderness, doesn’t scold or lecture Peter. Instead, He asks him: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Three times — once for each denial — Peter affirms his love. And each time, Jesus entrusts him with a mission: “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.”This moment is not just Peter’s healing — it is Peter’s commissioning. Weak and imperfect though he was, Peter becomes the rock, the shepherd, the leader of Christ’s Church.
And today, this Gospel speaks to us in a particular, poignant way. In these days, we have mourned the death of Pope Francis, the successor of Peter in our own time — the shepherd who, with great humility and courage, sought to feed Christ’s sheep across the world. Like Peter, Pope Francis was not a perfect man. No Pope ever is. But like Peter, he loved Jesus deeply. And he heard the Lord’s call: “Feed my sheep.”
And he answered — with a life of service, compassion, and witness to the Gospel. May he rest in Christ’s peace. As we commend his soul to the mercy of God, we recognize again the beauty and the fragility of the office Peter was given: to be a shepherd in the name of the Good Shepherd Himself.
Our first reading from Acts shows us Peter and the apostles — now fearless — standing before the authorities and proclaiming Christ without hesitation, even at the risk of their lives. Our second reading from Revelation shows us where all of this is heading: a countless throng of angels and saints crying out, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” It is Christ’s victory — not ours — that gives hope to the Church through every age.
Today, as we are waiting for the next Pope to be elected, we are reminded: that Christ still stands on the shores of our lives, calling us back to Himself by giving us a New Peter, that will guide us towards the Only Good Shepherd that He is in heaven. Jesus giving us new Pope affirms us that no failure, no weakness, no denial is stronger than His mercy. Christ still asks each of us: “Do you love me?” — and sends us forth to serve, and the greatest manifestation of it will be the election of the new Pope who will be asked to accept the election and lead the Church. Let us each one of us renew our own answer to the Lord with new Pope: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”And may that love, imperfect though it may be, may it be the starting point for a life lived in service to God and to His people for him and for us.
As I am still in Rome writing this article after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, I place you all before the Lord in this holy place and tomb of Saint Peter, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and countless other Saints. Today I was praying for you all at the tombs of Saint Francis, Saint Clare and Blessed Carlo Acutis, whose incorruptible body I did see in Assisi as I visited it with a group of Catholic Palestinian youth, who came for Carlos’s Canonization that supposed to happen past Sunday but was postponed because of the Pope’s funeral and now the upcoming Conclave. I was here to represent you all before the Lord in this important moment of our Church’s life. Just to let you know I was in Rome 20 years ago for the funeral of John Paul II coming already from Long Island where I came to serve in 2004.
”Lord You know everything, You know that I love You.”
God bless everyone always!!!
Fr. Stan
