Memorial of St. Pius V
(John 10)
Fr. Raymond Brown spent a major part of his life studying the Gospel and Letters of St. John. You will find his two volume commentary on the Gospel on the bookshelves of most preachers. He observes that in all the Johnanine works very almost nothing is said about different functions in the Christian community. Where St. Paul writes of apostles, prophets, and teachers, St. John speaks of only Jesus and his disciples or Jesus, the shepherd, and his sheep. Fr. Brown further points out, however, that a small exception to this rule is found in the final chapter of John’s Gospel. In that passage, that we all know well, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. With each affirmation Jesus tells Peter to care for his sheep.
In John the Evangelist’s mind there is little need for many roles and no need at all for people ruling over one another. What is critical is that everyone loves Jesus and loves one another. For this reason Jesus emphasizes that Peter love him before he assigns him the duty of watching over the sheep.
Today the Church remembers a successor of Peter who tended Jesus’ flock in the perilous time after the major Protestant reformers. St. Pius V faced several daunting challenges: corruption in the Catholic Church, withdrawal of whole nations from the Church’s guidance, the threat of Turkish Muslim invaders seizing control over a sizeable portion of Christian Europe. He met the demands of the office with firmness tempered by prayer. Certainly we can say of him that he loved Christ as was, is, and always will be necessary of successors of Peter.
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