May 11, 2021
Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish,
In recent weeks, the Sunday gospel readings have focused intensely on love, and we have come to understand that to love someone is to help that person thrive and flourish. And what do we call people like that? Friends. I wonder…what does a friend look like?
Friends invests themselves in their friends. Their joys and sorrows, their successes and failures become their own.
A real friend is a liberator. They help their friends break free of old habits, old fears, old hates and from thoughts that have grown too small.
An awesome friend knows how to tell the truth, but always gives the truth as a gift, not as a punishment, a “put-down” or in revenge. And until they can give that truth as a gift, they remain silent.
A true friend is smart. They know what seems to really matter and what does not. They know when to listen, see and act. When appropriate. They remember how much they do not know, too.
And finally, a good friend is faithful and knows how to forgive and forgive and forgive…just as the Lord does for us.
What other marks of a true friend would you consider as essential to this powerful relationship?
Whether we are young or old, parent, spouse, clergy, single or a kid, being a true friend is heavy lifting and takes heart, commitment, and patience. If our friendship with all humanity is to take hold, we first must be rooted in the love and friendship with our God. And unless we learn how to befriend one another, the big family of creation we long for will never come to be; Jesus’ coming will have been a waste of time; and our lives will have been a tragic failure.
Take time this week, in the glow of Easter, and ponder the meaning of friendship and how it can be a blessing for you, your family and God’s big family. It is what we were created for, and it brings with it a taste of that awesome joy that is uniquely God’s!
Finally, I promised to many of you that I would share and publish here a quote I recently used in my homily by Fr. Karl Rahner, SJ and may be vaguely appropriate to the reflection I just shared about friendship: “The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim him with their mouths and deny him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.” Wow, that is thought provoking! Yikes!
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. George Couturier
