Jesus said to
him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” John 21:17
We have to hear that question
as being central to all of our Christian ministry because it is the question
that can allow us to be, at the same time, irrelevant and truly self-confident.
Look at Jesus. The world did
not pay attention to him. He was crucified and put away. His message of love
was rejected by a world in search of power, efficiency, and control…
The question is not: How many
people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show
some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?...In our world of loneliness and
despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God,
a heart that forgives, cares, reaches out and wants to heal…
Knowing God’s heart means
consistently, radically, and very concretely to announce and reveal that God is
love and only love, and that every time fear, isolation, or despair begins to
invade the human soul, this is not something that comes from God…
The knowledge of Jesus’ heart
is a knowledge of the heart. And when we live in the world with that knowledge,
we cannot do other than bring healing, reconciliation, new life, and hope
wherever we go. The desire to be relevant and successful will gradually
disappear, and our only desire will be to say with our whole being to our
brothers and sisters of the human race, “You are loved. There is no reason to
be afraid. In love God created your inmost self and knit you together in your
mother’s womb” (Ps 139:13)