“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” He said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.” But he replied, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.”

Gospelthink: Peter had gone intentions, but was unable to carry through with them. How am I doing with keeping my good intentions?

“We go together better than birds of a feather, you and me. We change the weather: I’m feeling heat in December when you’re ‘round me. I’ve been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars. I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough. You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain. It’s obvious, I’m a sucker for you. Say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly. Any road you take you know that you’ll find me. I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things."

Peter is known in the Scriptures to be a person who definitely loved Jesus but he did not understand himself enough. He often made statements without too much thinking and based more on feelings than anything else. He tells the Lord during the Last Supper that he would rather die than give up faith in him. And yet, he denied that he knew Jesus just a little while later, as Jesus predicted. He allowed his feelings of the moment to dictate what he thought was correct.

In the song "Sucker," the man in the relationship is speaking from his feelings. He knows how he feels when it comes to his significant other, but at the same time, the relationship is not as strong as it should be yet. He is thinking only from his point of view, saying that everything will be okay because he thinks it will be okay. He is directing the relationship, and he is totally committed, he thinks. He is a sucker for the other and will go anywhere blindly, as he admits.

In the song, we do not know whether the other is responding to his feelings or not. With human nature being what it is, when things change a little with time, as Peter in the Gospel, he may change completely. Mainly because is he is thinking only with his feelings of the moment. When reality becomes something other than what a person feels should happen, our feelings may indeed change.

The lesson here in life is that we must know our feelings, and consider carefully whether those feelings will be the same no matter what happens. In love relationships, there are always two people involved, and reality may be different from what we feel should happen.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, as human beings, we often have very strong feelings without really thinking them through. Give us the grace to understand our feelings, and help us be able to change for the better no matter what our feelings. Be with us, we pray.

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: In learning to love, we must be careful that we are not misled by our feelings.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does the song "Sucker" teach young people?
2. Obviously we know what Peter should have done when he was asked later whether he knew Jesus. In your opinion, would most Christians do what Peter did and deny him?  Yes or no and why?
3. In your opinion, what are the "subliminal things" in a love relationship?
4. In your opinion, do most people follow through with their original feelings of love of another?  Yes or no and why?
5. Song analysis: What does it mean when someone says "I am a sucker for you."
6. In your opinion, what is the best way to make sure that we know our feelings to be correct?

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America