CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – After the resurrection, Jesus had breakfast on the beach with his disciples. He forgave St. Peter for denying him three times before the crucifixion, and Christ had this strange blessing for Peter: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” “It’s widely thought that Christ was foreshadowing the type of death that Peter would suffer: crucified upside down by the Romans.
Yet without Peter, Christianity would not exist as we know it today. He traveled to Rome, founded a church at the crossroads of the anient world, and spread the Gospel among gentiles. Christ’s message would no longer be an offshoot of Judaism; it would be a faith for all. The Church that St. Peter founded is today the Roman Catholic Church. The modern-day Pope wears the fisherman’s ring, symbolizing his direct line from Peter and from Christ himself.
I’ve been thinking about that bible passage a lot after visiting my father on vacation. Three things you could know about my father: there’s no question about who the leader of our family is. He’s always been fiercely independent. And his home, on a cul-du-sac in suburban Connecticut, is his castle. But just through the aging process, those fundamental things about my father are changing. My mother and sister now lead the parts of the family that are still back east. My father is more dependent on others than he’s ever been before. He can no longer care for himself for extended periods at home. And the time is coming when he’ll be forced out of his house.
My mother and sister want to spend Thanksgiving in Florida. My mother will stay there through Christmas. My father has no choice about going, even though he has no interest in packing for a month, getting on an airplane, and being away from his home for a month. It will be his first Christmas away in decades. He can’t stay by himself for a month during winter. Like the bible verse says, he’s being led by the hand somewhere he doesn’t want to go.
I think about this for myself. I love Wisconsin. Will there be circumstances later in my life, like age or winters, that would force me to leave? I remember my grandmother telling me that no one enters a nursing home voluntarily. Will that be me someday?
Remember what Christ’s final words were to Peter. “Follow me!” Wherever I am led, Jesus is with me.
Chris Conley
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