WEDNESDAY.
Christ Commits His Sheep to Peter.
I. Christ had destined Peter to be His vicar on earth, because He Himself was going to the Father, and because His flock could not be left without some visible shepherd. Before He gave him this appointment, He thrice asked him, " Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?" (Jno. xxi. 15), to show us how well grounded they ought to be in the love of God who undertake the care of souls. Pastors, parents, and masters ought then to be forcibly actuated by this divine principle, for they have all, in their different departments, the care of souls. Examine yourself, and discover whether you have a sufficient stock of this sterling and necessary virtue to discharge the duties of your calling, as they should be.
II. Christ, when Peter had said that he loved Him, rejoined, " Feed My iambs — Feed My sheep." The faithful are the flock of Jesus Christ, and the Apostles and their successors are commissioned to feed this flock, by teaching, preaching, and administering the sacraments, and by giving good example. Those who have embraced this calling have an important duty to perform. Let them remember with fear and trembling the prophetic description of the bad pastor of Israel: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: you ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat, but my flock you did not feed." (Ezech. xxxiv. 2.) Let the faithful, too, remember that they owe respect to those whom Christ has commissioned to feed them; that the validity of sacraments is independent of the virtues or the vices of lawful pastors, and that submission to them is a duty.
