This is a translation from “Day by Day”, the Russian book of scriptural meditations. Lewis connection follows:
Scripture: “The Lord turned and looked at Peter” (Luke: 22, 61)
Meditation:
"What was in the Savior’s gaze? What must Peter have felt in seeing this gaze, full of meek and loving reproach? Clearly, he immediately felt regret and felt at that moment how much he let down his Teacher and Savior, and hot tears flowed from his eyes. He, who had counted so much on his steadfastness and had asserted not long before that he would follow Christ everywhere, could in an instant forget all this, and succumbing to petty cowardice, deny Him, for Whom he was willing to die!
"We can all understand the depths of regret which engulfed Peter when the Savior’s glance awoke him from his temporary indulgence. And let this glance, full of love, but also of just rebuke, stop us when we are ready to forget our frequent promises and intentions, and when perhaps some insignificant reason makes us want to deviate from the truth.
“Let us prove our love for our Savior through our service to Him, Whom we have surrendered to once and for all. Not counting on our own resolve, which can be so unsure, let us trust in God, holding on to Him, relying on His word – on the living, inexhaustible source of this word. And when we remember Peter’s denial let us always seek the Divine gaze of our Savior. Let us turn first of all to Him every time that the ground beneath us is shaky and we feel that danger is near. Relying on Him, let us be faithful to Him until death. And when the Savior also asks us, ‘Do you love Me?’, we will also reply without hesitation: ‘You know everything, Lord, You know that I love You!’ (John: 21, 17)”.
The above meditation brings to mind Lewis’s essay, “On Obstinacy in Belief”, from “The World’s Last Night” collection. In that essay Lewis argues that once we have logically become convinced of what we believe, we should not be expected to give up that belief in light of emotional considerations which do not affect the fundamental basis of that belief. And the above meditation also speaks to the courageous adherence in practice to the truths we know.
Dimitry
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)