18 May 2018
Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter
In today’s gospel we hear Jesus predicting a future for Peter
“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.”
In the case of Peter, it was a dramatic death of a martyr. In the case of another Peter, it was a slow walk to the Lord in a nursing facility. The second Peter was Pedro Arrupe, a Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1965-1983. Fr. Arrupe certainly witnessed change, being superior general during a time of tremendous change and transition. A stroke in August of 1981 gave him the opportunity to fullfil the mission given by Christ to his namesake, Peter the Apostle. In fact, Fr Arrupe had these words framed and hung in his bedroom. The words of Jesus to Peter remind us that our future may have challenges and that these challenges certainly are not what we plan. But that unplanned path was walked by a Lord who suffered and died for us. So, we walk that same path with faith and hope.