Friendship with Jesus

My Dear People of God,

At the beginning of every January I have a silent eight-day retreat, together with other bishops of California. Each year the Lord touches me deeply as I reflect on a different perspective of God’s great love. This year I reflected on how Our Lord calls us to a close friendship with Himself.

It is incredible to think that we could have a close and intimate relationship of love and friendship with the Creator of this whole world. God is so far above us, there is no way for us to relate to Him. Yet, he relates to us, first, by sending His own Divine Son into this world and secondly by giving us the great gift of Baptism. It is only by being born again in water and the Spirit that we receive a share in the very Divine Life of God, and as adopted sons of God, we take on an intimate relationship of love with our Heavenly Father and with Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to share our humanity, so that we could share in His divinity.

Sharing our humanity He had special and close friends whom He cared for very much when He lived in this world. Remember how Jesus wept with Martha and Mary on the death of their brother Lazarus. He lived in close friendship with the Apostles, eating and drinking with them, sharing their hopes and dreams. And, our Lord Jesus calls us into this same close friendship, asking us in turn to love one another as He has loved us.

And as in all friendship, friends want to be with each other and talk about their lives. This is what spending time of prayer with the Lord is all about. Friends enjoy a good meal together and share their lives with one another. This is what the Sunday Eucharist is all about. Friends constantly forgive each other. This is what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is all about. Friends help each other to mature and develop their gifts and talents. This is what reading the Sacred Scripture and the Sacrament of Confirmation are all about. Friends are always there for each other. This is what giving our lives over to the Lord is all about, just as He has given His life for us even to His death on the cross.

How blest we are that we can call Jesus our friend and that He calls us His friends. Our Christian struggle is trying always to live in close friendship with him, pleasing him, thanking him, loving him in all things. And with Jesus we do not simply say “friends for life”, but friends for eternity. ++ Help us to be good friends of you O Lord, and show your love to others around us in this life, especially in a world that sometimes seems so crazy and out of control. Yet we know that you are with us, through thick and thin. ++ God bless you all very much.