Today’s reflection comes from the “Not Strictly Spiritual” blog of author and retreat presenter, Mary DeTurris Poust. Mary will be with us for a wonderful weekend retreat, June 25-27, presenting “Broken, Beautiful, and Beloved”. You can learn more about Mary and the retreat if you click here. Today, let’s read her thoughts about the courageous example of Peter.
Responding with heart means jumping in with trust
I love how Peter tends to respond to Jesus with such pure emotion. As in today’s scene, when he leaps out of his boat and races through the water toward Jesus; as on the Mount of the
Transfiguration when he wants to erect three tents; as he answers without hesitation that he believes Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God”; as he tries to convince Jesus that his Passion doesn’t need to happen, causing our Lord to say, “Get behind me Satan”; as at the Last Supper when he wants Jesus to wash not only his feet but head and hands; as in the Garden at Gethsemane when he cuts off the ear of a servant; as he warms his hand by the fire and denies even knowing Jesus.
Peter does not just act when it comes to Jesus; he reacts, usually from the depth of his emotion. What if we did the same, responding to Jesus not from our head but from our heart? Sure, we’d get it wrong sometimes, as Peter often did, but mostly we’d get it right. How can we be so sure? Because when we respond to God from our heart, we connect on the deepest level, and, from that place, we grow and transform into who God created us to be.
Today, jump out of whatever safe boat you’re paddling through the chaos of life. Run toward Jesus, water splashing, arms flailing, heart pounding, spirit soaring. He’s waiting for you on the shore.
Mary DeTurris Poust, “Right from the Heart,” from the April 2021 issue of Give Us This Day www.giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021). Used with permission.