Romans 12:2

“Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rm 12:2)
(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2011/06/01/giugno-2011/)

How can we avoid conforming to the mentality of this age, but instead to transform ourselves by the renewal of our minds? In this period of Easter, we heard in the Liturgy the answer of Peter to Jesus which indicates to us the way!

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn 21:17).

With this triple answer to Jesus, Peter receives the primacy of love; he becomes the “vicar” of Christ, receiving the ministry of loving always, everyone, totally, even to death.

After the experience of sin and of its consequences, of betrayal and of returning to a past without hope, like a useless night of fishing, it is sweet to hear the call of the One Who took on my sins and forgot about them and He asks me only to re-begin to love, in the present, as if the world began anew. It is like finding oneself in a family where there is only one law for the first and the last person, where the first must be the last because authority is measured by the greater responsibility to serve. Finally, Peter seems to say, I understood You, when You called me Satan, when You bent down to wash my feet, when You caused me to bitterly cry with Your fatherly look of reproach and You refused my sword to defend You.

And so we too, say with Peter: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”

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An Experience of Life:

For a whole year I had a good job; finally a secure occupation. But then an accident occurred. I was a freelancer, and for a good while the company for which I worked had promised me that I would be covered by their insurance policy. But when the accident happened we discovered that I was not covered and after three months of sickness they told me that I would no longer be paid and that I would loose my place in the company. I could have filed a lawsuit, but I would have had to cite in the proceedings my former colleagues, putting them in grave difficulties, with the risk of causing them to loose their place in the company. With my wife we decided to try to resolve our problems without damaging anyone.

After the forth month of unemployment, we began to have economic difficulties. Martha’s work was not sufficient to support the family. But Providence did not ever abandon us, helping us to find, precisely at the moment when we were most in need, little jobs which allowed us to go forward. Together with the children each evening we sang a “Hail Mary” in a way that my grandmother had taught me. We asked her for help not only for ourselves, but also for others who we knew needed help.

Six months after the accident, when the industry of our area was in extreme difficulty, upon the indication of a friend I found a job better than the one I had lost. To us it seemed an answer… of the One Who never lets Himself be outdone in generosity.

M. & J.L., Uruguay