Christ Who Transforms | September 2026
Paulina Barrero

There is something profoundly moving about the way Jesus related to his disciples.

He didn’t call perfect people.

He didn’t call the strongest or the best prepared.

He called ordinary people … people with fears, doubts, wounds, and weaknesses.

And that gives us hope.

Because it means that Christ still calls ordinary people like us today.

 

In chapter 21 of the Gospel of John, after the resurrection, Jesus returns to find Peter. And that detail is beautiful, because Peter had failed. He had denied the Lord at the most difficult moment.

However, Jesus doesn’t come to shame him or remind him of his failure. He comes with love.

And he asks him a simple, yet profound question:

“Do you love me?”

After each answer, Jesus tells him:

“Feed my sheep” …

and finally says:

“Follow me.”

Today, the risen Christ also calls us by name, saying,

“Come, follow me.”

I was born into a Christian home. When I was about 10 years old, we had a lesson on John 1 in Sunday school. I left that class very happy because I understood that Christ was the Word, that he was God, that he had come and become human like us. And I understood that Christ had given his life out of love for me. I felt loved.

 

Later, I joined a church where the emphasis was on the works of the law, and I felt like I needed to earn God’s love.

Years later, when I understood grace, I felt once again that what truly mattered was the love of Christ. And I experienced a calling and a joy like the one I had felt as a child: to love the God who loves me unconditionally and.

 

The apostle John said, “God is love.” Just as the Lord called his disciples and they came to know and love him, Jesus calls us to experience his love today.

 

When Jesus says “follow me,” it means that he has already seen us and knows who we truly are.

He did the same with Nathanael. In the Gospel of John 1:48, the Lord says,

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

 

He knows who we are, and yet he still calls us.

He invites us to live each day in communion with him, allowing his grace to transform our hearts. And that transformation happens day by day as we walk with him.

 

Christ calls us to share in his love: the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He calls us to reflect his love, his character, and his life in the world.

 

The Gospel reminds us that Christ has a mission. His work consists of reaching out to a wounded humanity that needs healing, hope, and a future.

And today, he continues to draw near to us.

He looks at us with love.

He calls us by name.

And he invites us, saying,

“Come, follow me.”