There’s a strange sense of time here: time approaching and time receding. Paul is trekking inevitably to Rome where he will die, and Jesus, beyond death, is promising Peter life … and death—a life spent nourishing and a letting go at its end.
We chose this last part of John, as novices, for our vows. Answering a call we were, and knowing the call both our deepest desire and our reluctant response: somebody else putting a belt around us and taking us where we would rather not go … but going gladly.
John Paul chose it for his requiem—maybe seeking a summation of his life, maybe hungering for the next.
Benedict chose it for his inauguration—maybe making a promise, maybe asking exoneration, maybe praying in hope.
Pentecost is waiting for us … a harvest festival and a new spring … and beyond it … ordinary time.
What is being promised us today before and beyond the ordinary? What can we not foresee that draws us forward? And what is asking to be loosed from our overburdened hands?