pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire

Today is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. In the homily Fr. David urged us to love the people God has given us to love, as Peter and Paul did, particularly in light of the Gospel reading from John 21: the reinstatement of Peter, the thrice-asked and thrice-answered question, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" and the thrice-emphasized, "Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep."

"If you only accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and do nothing else with it, it means nothing!" Fr. David said. "A personal encounter with Christ is the necessary first step, but if it stops there, it's all in the garbage. We have to love the people we have been given to love. It's so simple. Why is this so hard for contemporary Christians to understand? Why is this so hard to practice? Our world is driven by fear, by greed, by animosity, by division, by jealousy, by anger -- and often in the name of God. But if we love each other, if we love one day at a time, then we can be more like Peter and Paul, and more like God."

The fight to love as lived by Peter and Paul -- something I have been clumsily grasping at the last week. There was only one strand missing from the thread, so naturally, as I drove to the store to pick up vital necessaries like coffee and hair gel, I listened to Josh Ritter's "Girl in the War." Which I love for a number of reasons. Today, though, my favorite part of it was the thought that, as I muddle through this latest struggle, as I stand at this latest crossroads of love and hurt and try to puzzle out how to proceed, I am watched over, prayed for and agonized with, both in and out of the body, and therefore not alone.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)

or

Peter said to Paul, "You know all those words we wrote
are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go.
But now talking to God is Laurel beggin' Hardy for a gun:
I got a girl in the war, man, I wonder what it is we done."

Paul said to Peter, "You gotta rock yourself a little harder.
Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire."
"But I got a girl in the war, Paul, the only thing I know to do
is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through.

"Because the keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom
and the angels fly around in there, but we can't see them.
But I got a girl in the war, Paul, I know that they can hear me yell
and if they can't find a way to help her they can go to Hell.
If they can't find a way to help her they can go to Hell."

Paul said to Peter, "You gotta rock yourself a little harder.
Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire."
"But I got a girl in the war, Paul, her eyes are like champagne.
They sparkle, bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain.
They sparkle, bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain.
They sparkle, bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain."

(Josh Ritter, "Girl in the War," from The Animal Years)