Prayer of the Day

Feast of St. Casimir

As a kind of follow-up to the events of yesterday’s gospel when the rich young man failed to give up his wealth in order to follow Jesus Peter asked Jesus what kind of reward he and the others could expect for giving up everything in order to follow him (Mark 10:28-31).  Jesus assures him that he will be very adequately rewarded.   Peter is still at a very early stage in his discipleship.  He hasn’t yet learned that knowing and following Jesus is reward enough and that eternal life is a gift from God that cannot be earned.  The gift can only be responded to.  Later through his failure Peter will learn how to respond to the gift being offered by Jesus.  Selfless love will become his primary motivation rather than looking for reward.  Strengthened by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost Peter will prove his love for Jesus by joyfully  preaching the Good News and finally giving his life for Jesus.