Daily Catholic Lectio
Fri, 6 June 2025
Seventh Week of Easter – Friday
Acts 25:13–21. John 21:15–19
Stretching Out One’s Hands
“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… Follow me!” (John 21:18-19)
We encounter five moments in the Gospels that reveal the unique bond between Jesus and Peter: (1) Jesus’ initial call to Peter, (2) Peter’s confession: “You are the Messiah,” (3) Peter’s attempt to walk on water like Jesus, (4) Peter’s denial of Jesus, and (5) today’s profession of love for Jesus.
When Peter says, “Lord, you know everything!” it becomes a proclamation of surrender, transparency, and total self-offering. Immediately after Peter makes this confession of love, Jesus speaks of his future: “You will stretch out your hands.” This is not just a prediction of martyrdom, but a profound call to self-giving.
To stretch out one’s hands does not imply losing one’s freedom, but rather, gaining it. From that moment, Peter no longer decides the direction of his life. He has entrusted it into God’s hands. Unless God first holds our hands, we cannot go on to reach out and draw others to Him.
The Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, in its 2008 instruction titled “The Service of Authority and Obedience”, notes: “No one can exercise authority unless they themselves are first obedient to God.” Peter’s authority in the Church is rooted in his obedience—his surrender to Christ, symbolised by the act of stretching out his hands.
Picture a child and a father crossing the road. The father watches carefully for oncoming traffic, cautious and attentive. The child needs only to hold the father’s finger—and for the child, crossing becomes play. For the father, it is responsibility. When we cling to God’s hand, life becomes a joyful journey, even if the road is uncertain.
We are born with clenched fists—reluctant to let go. Stretching out our hands makes us feel exposed and vulnerable. We fear losing control. But it is in this very act of self-surrender that we discover true freedom. Only when we learn to see surrender as strength do we find the courage to stretch out our hands.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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