"Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

A reflection by St. Francis de Sales:

August 1
On this day, the feast of Saint Peter in Chains, it pleased our guardian angel to strike at our side and wake us up, giving us a loving attention to the presence of God and freeing us from all the bonds of self-love, so as to consecrate us decisively to divine love. How fortunate was Saint Peter when the Lord repeatedly asked him "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" [Jn 21:16] It was not that Jesus doubted that he did, but to have the great pleasure of hearing him say, repeat and protest that he loved Him. So we must either love or die, because he who does not love remains a dead person. (Letters 798; O. XV, p. 252)


Surely we can imagine Our Lord asking each of us the question he once asked Simon Peter. How pleasing then must it be for him to hear the same response uttered forth from our own heart, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you." May we say it often that he might have the pleasure of hearing it often.

"Yes Lord, you know that I love you."