4 November 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?… Feed my lambs.” John 21:15
The Church is a flock with a Shepherd. Peter, who once denied the Lord, is asked three times, “Do you love me?” and three times receives the charge: “Feed my lambs… tend my sheep.” Authority in the Church is born of love and exists for service.
Years later Peter writes to the elders: “Tend the flock of God that is in your charge… not for sordid gain but eagerly… be examples to the flock.” He had learned shepherding from the Shepherd. Today pray for your bishop and parish priest, and ask how you too shepherd those entrusted to you.
Theme: “Love first, then feed.”
Peter's threefold confession of love becomes a threefold mission.
“For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.” Ezekiel 34:11
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”” John 21:15
Apply: Pray for someone who has drifted from the Church.
“I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:15
“Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.” Acts 20:28
Apply: Pray for your bishop and parish priest by name.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”” John 20:21
Apply: Speak to a younger person about your faith this week.
Love for Christ is the root of all service.
Let us love him, and feed his sheep.
Take-home resolution: Offer a decade of the Rosary for priests each day this week.
Dear friends, the Church is a flock with a Shepherd. Peter, who once denied the Lord, is asked three times: do you love me? And three times he receives the charge: feed my lambs, tend my sheep (John 21:15–17). Authority in the Church is born of love and exists for service.
Years later Peter himself tells the elders of the Church: tend the flock of God, not under compulsion but willingly, not lording it over those in your charge but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:2–3). And when the chief Shepherd appears, they will receive the crown of glory that never fades.
Let us pray today especially for our priests and bishops. And each of us is a shepherd in some way: parents, teachers, catechists. Jesus asks us too: do you love me? Let us answer with our service. Amen.
Children, Jesus asked Peter: do you love me? Today you too can say: Jesus, I love you!
Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, give your Church shepherds after your own heart. Teach me to love you first and to serve those you entrust to me. Amen.
Both readings are about shepherds. In the Gospel the risen Jesus asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?", and gives him his flock to feed. In the Epistle, Peter, now an elder himself, passes the same charge on to the elders of the Church. The house of God is cared for by shepherds who love the chief Shepherd.
Setting.
1 Peter is written to Christians scattered in Asia Minor (1:1), who suffer insults and hostility for their faith. The letter presents itself as written by Peter from "Babylon" (5:13), an early Christian name for Rome. Near its end the letter turns to the leaders of the communities.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ” (5:1)
Peter's authority rests on what he saw. He watched the Lord suffer, and he himself had denied him. A shepherd who knows his own weakness can be gentle with the flock.
“Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock.” (5:3)
The echo of the Gospel is clear: "the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them … It will not be so among you" (Matthew 20:25–26). The pastor leads by walking ahead, not by driving from behind.
“And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away.” (5:4)
The reward of a pastor is not money or honour now ("not for sordid gain", v. 2), but glory when Christ appears.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that bishops, with the priests as their co-workers, govern the Church as shepherds after the example of the Good Shepherd, who came not to be served but to serve (Lumen Gentium 27–28). St Gregory the Great, in his Pastoral Rule, insists that the one who leads must first be humble and must teach more by his life than by his words (in substance).
Setting.
John 21 is an epilogue to the Gospel. By the Sea of Tiberias the risen Jesus gives the disciples a great catch of fish and a breakfast of bread and fish on a charcoal fire (21:9). The only other charcoal fire in the Gospels is in the courtyard of the high priest, where Peter denied Jesus three times (18:18).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (21:15)
Jesus uses Peter's old name, as at his first call (1:42). "More than these" may mean more than the other disciples, recalling Peter's boast that he would never fall away (Matthew 26:33).
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” (21:17)
Peter no longer trusts his own strength. He appeals to the Lord's knowledge. This is humble love, which the Lord can build on.
“when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (21:18)
John explains that this pointed to Peter's death (v. 19). St Clement of Rome already speaks of Peter's martyrdom, and later writers such as Tertullian and Eusebius record that he died in Rome under Nero, by crucifixion.
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine says that the threefold confession of love answered the threefold denial, so that love might speak as often as fear had spoken (in substance). The Catechism teaches that Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter, and that after the Resurrection he confirmed it with the words "Feed my sheep" (CCC 553; see also CCC 881).