May 19th
“I do not wish to call you servants. I wish to call you friends”.
An amazing revelation or an amazing invitation? The meaning of the word friend has been watered down through overuse. Thanks to the advent of wireless technology and social networking sites, everyone can have friends by the hundreds. We now can easily friend and sadly unfriend or defriend people. Friendship is still valued but what does it mean?
In last Sunday’s Gospel, the word “friend” comes from “philos,” a Greek word which means beloved. St John describes himself as the beloved disciple implying an intimate relationship with Jesus. In one of his paintings, Leonardo da Vinci depicted this relationship by placing John next to Jesus with his head resting on his heart.
I’m always touched when children are invited around the altar for the consecration of the bread and wine. An invitation to come closer to Jesus, an invitation to be a “beloved” of Jesus. This invitation to come closer is extended in a spiritual way to all of us. It is an ongoing invitation to grow in intimacy with Jesus, a call to be “beloved.”
Yes, the word “friend” can be tossed around so freely that it holds little real meaning. Sometime though we are blessed to know real friends.
As St John described himself as the “beloved disciple,” I call light upon myself as the “beloved friend.”
My wife and I have been blessed to have a group of friends that all share the same faith in our intimacy with Jesus. We call ourselves “14 Faithful Friends.” The number is slightly higher now as “Faith” grows. We have known each other for 30-40 years+ years as we saw our children grow up and go to school together. We attended faith sharing over the years, supported our church in many ways and attended the Baptisms, Communions, Confirmation of each other’s children.
At this point in our lives we have our own families and lives but continue to support each other. Once a year during Advent (this has been going on for some 20+ years or so) we all gather for a special prayer time, just us, where we share our thoughts and hopes in praise and thanksgiving for love of God the Father, Jesus our Savior and the Holy Spirit who guides us well in so many ways.
Now our friends celebrate Sacrament of Matrimony of our now grown children. The cycle continues as we also witness the Baptism of our children’s children. The sacraments are more than personal growth in grace and a holding to tradition, they also help bind us together as friends.
Two years ago my wife and I lost our 22 year old daughter suddenly in a car/truck accident. Though I can’t describe the crushing blow such an event causes, it was at that time that I felt “beloved”. It was our 14 Faithful Friends that came more deeply into our lives for those immediate days after and continue now. They completely took us under wing as we decided to not use a funeral home but instead “Celebrate” my daughters life in our home and yard for the four days before we laid her to rest. Everything from setting up our home for hundreds of visitors, taking in flowers and baskets, to cleaning the toilets and stocking them was done without word or question. Their efforts afforded us a freedom that blessed us.
We were able to sit and talk with our daughters college school mates at length who came from afar staying days. My wife and I learned more of her eager ways of not only hitting a challange head on, but making it fun too when we talked with her work friends.
Because our friends took over the day to day chores we could spend more time with family and extended family, some of whom didn’t have the pleasure of really knowing my daughter because of distance and own family. It made us proud to be able to talk of her. At times I think back on those days and how the events unfolded.
In the midst of tragedy true friends took over our burdens and made life easier. In my daughter’s death, we were able to celebrate.
It was then I learned that through our shared love of Jesus, I was beloved.
Thank you my friends and Thank You Jesus!!