Active Membership Pillar: Faithful Participation at Sunday Mass and Holy Days

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus reveals himself to the disciples for the third time after His resurrection. He asks Peter three different times, “Do you love me?” and three times Peter responds, “...you know that I love you!”

This is not a coincidence.

Peter had denied his best friend, his Lord, his Savior - three times. And yet here, with distress in his voice, Peter exclaims - three times - his fully devoted love to Christ. And by Jesus’ mercy alone, Peter is not ridiculed, denied, or discarded, but instead he’s redeemed.

Peter’s failure doesn’t disqualify him from the Lord’s love and grace.

How many times have I failed to put my best friend, my Lord, my Savior first? How often have I treated Sunday Mass as optional, or as a burden, or attended only to be distracted, unfocused, or half-hearted? Far too many!

Thankfully, like Peter, my failure doesn’t disqualify me from Jesus’ love and grace either. Every Sunday, I am invited back, without hesitation, to the Lord’s table. In the end, faithful participation at Mass isn’t about failing or doing this whole church thing perfectly…it is simply about always returning.

Jesus clearly gave Peter a mission to “Feed my sheep;” and Jesus gives each of us a mission too — to love Him, to follow Him, and to worship Him – and our mission begins when we gather with our neighbors at Mass.

This third Sunday of Easter is a great reminder for me to proclaim my fiat and illustrate my love for the Lord simply by faithfully returning to LC for Mass!