Saturday 7th Week of Easter
Knights of Columbus State Deputies’ Meeting
New Haven, Connecticut
June 7, 2025
What Concern Is It of Yours?
Yesterday, we heard Jesus predict that Peter would eventually ‘stretch out his hands and be taken where he would rather not go.’ Here Jesus referred to the death Peter would undergo, a death by crucifixion. Today we read the sequel. Having learnt how he was to die, Peter then points to John, the beloved disciple, and asks, “Lord, what about him?” . . .as if to say, ‘If I must lay down my life, what about John? Will he too have to lay down his life?’ The Lord’s response to Peter is blunt: “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”
Peter would indeed be crucified, but upside down, for he felt he was unworthy to replicate exactly the Lord’s crucifixion. As he died, Peter saw a world turned upside down by Risen Lord for by his Cross Jesus had overturned the powers of sin and death. John, for his part, did not die a martyr’s death, nor would not live the second coming of Christ. Rather, he lived a long life, dying in exile on the Isle of Patmos. In another sense, however, John will remain with us until the end of time through the abiding testimony he left us in the Gospel that bears his name. It was the Lord’s will that Peter should be the leader and a martyr. It was the Lord’s will that John should live on in the testimony of his Gospel. In both cases the Lord’s will was right and just.
What About Him?
But why, we ask, should these two Apostles be treated so differently? We who think in terms of “equal protection under the law” may feel it unfair that one Apostle is sent to his death while the other lives to a ripe old age. To our way of thinking, it’s a matter of fundamental fairness that no person or group be denied what is accorded to similar persons or groups. Put another way, we expect to be treated at least as well as our peers.
This extends to things like salaries, promotions, benefits, and discipline. Indeed, our culture teaches us to be on the watch for signs of unfairness. When we think something is being demanded of us that is not demanded of a co-worker, we ask, “Well, what about him?” To paraphrase, “If I have to do this, why doesn’t he or she have to do it?” Or the question can run in reverse. It goes like this: “Well, what about me? Why am I not receiving a benefit given to a co-worker?”
What About Him?
There’s thin line, it appears, between a desire for equal treatment and envy, and like all thin lines, it is easily crossed. When power, position, or money is at stake, we are tempted to say, “What about him? Why is he getting a plumb assignment or better pay or more say-so than I?” Which is really a way of saying, “What about me? Why isn’t this mine, not his?”
This way of thinking is not confined to the secular world. As we know, the human condition also asserts itself in the Church. A priest may wonder why he is not yet a pastor even though his classmates are already pastors. He may wonder why he is being sent to a poor urban parish while his peers are being sent to comfortable suburban parishes. A bishop whose retirement was accepted by the Pope may wonder why a bishop of the same age is allowed to remain in office. Such questions are bound to arise; they are natural enough. But it’s easy to see how these questions can morph into envy and jealousy.
I probably don’t have to tell you that something similar can happen even in a fraternal order based on the principle of charity. Elections to leadership positions are, for the most part, smooth and orderly but sometimes feelings of rivalry and envy are just below the surface, feelings that are contrary to our principles of unity and fraternity. Whether it’s at the workplace or in the Church or in the Order, we may find ourselves asking, “Well, what about him or her?” Or the companion question, “Why not me?”
When such questions arise, even if we don’t say them aloud, the Lord hears and he will answer us as he answered Peter: “What if I want father so-and-so to have the parish you’ve always wanted?” “What if I want bishop so-and-so to stay on until he’s 80?” “What if I want brother knight so-and-so to be the grand knight, not you?” – “What concern is it of yours? You follow me!” Whether it is breaking down enmity in the work place or building up the communion of the Church or strengthening our fraternal ties of charity in the Order –leadership demands that you and I excise from our hearts all traces of envy and that we concentrate instead on following the Lord no matter what position we occupy or do not occupy. We see this in Blessed Michael McGivney who obediently left New Haven and went to Thomaston, and who never sought to be honored by the Order he founded. This is the generosity of spirit that is demanded of us if we would be the Lord’s disciples and leaders of the Knights of Columbus.
“Suscipe”
Perhaps a fitting conclusion to this reflection is a beautiful prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola known as “Suscipe”:
“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding, my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.”