Tuesday of Holy Week - Reflection

How many of us have made the promise, “I’ll never do that,” only to be confronted sometime later with the bitter reality that, of course, I did the very thing I promised not to do?  I sometimes wonder if one reason we take on penances during Lent is not to say at the end of the season, “I did it, good for me,” but so that we fail at them and have to admit that we are not as good at keeping our promises as we think.

Three times in one night Peter was confronted with his inability to keep his word to Jesus.  Jesus knew that he would fail and yet he still loved him.  Peter, on the other hand, as we will see, will be devastated by his own betrayal.  He weeps bitterly, shocked by his own unwillingness to be identified as Jesus’ disciple.  St. Francis de Sales asked penitents why they were surprised by their own moral frailty.  After all, God is not shocked by our unfaithfulness, but remains faithful to us even in today’s failure to live up to yesterday’s boasts of loyalty.  Should the realization of our inability keep us from promising our loyalty to him once again?  By no means.  It should make us love him all the more.  For he patiently bears our weaknesses, while he fulfills his own promises.