Friends

At the Last Supper, Jesus called his disciples his friends.  Less than a week from the Ascension, we hear these words again: "You are my friends if you do what I command you." (Jn 15:14). What a beautiful gift to be a friend of Jesus!  A friend is one who sticks by another with unconditional love, knowing the beloved's strengths and weaknesses, and standing by faithful and loving.  It is not only in the big things, forgiveness and going out of one's way for the other, but also in the little gestures and tender words exchanged between them, a tender intimacy which bonds them irrevocably together.  The love of friendship is one of the  greatest gifts God has given us.  So to see our relationship with Jesus on that level energizes us and moves us to include all in our circle of friends, as he does with us.  It must have been hard for the disciples to lose the physical presence of Jesus after 3 years daily with him, but Jesus has remained present to all of us these 2,000 years in the Eucharist and in one another. Cut off as we are because of closed churches and minimal worship services,we are invited to cherish and treasure our friend Jesus in the depths of our heart.
Bro. Rene