Friendship with Christ

Homily 3rd Sunday Year B

Friendship with Christ

Fr. Dwight P. Campbell, S.T.D.

Today’s Gospel, in which Jesus invites two sets of brothers, firstPeter & Andrew, then James & John, to follow Him, complements nicely last week’s Gospel, where John the Baptist points out Jesus to two of his disciples, Andrew and John, who ask Jesus where He is staying and He responds “Come and see,” then Andrew brings his brother Peter to Jesus. These two Gospels describe the beginning of Chirst’s public ministry, and follow on the feast two weeks ago, the Epiphany, where the Magi come to adore the newborn Christ Child and offer Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I preached about the Epiphany two weeksago at St. Mary’s Church in Breckenridge, Colorado – I was out there skiing with another priest friend, Fr. Sauppe, we were offered a deal we could not refuse: to stay free at the rectory all week if we filled in for the priest there and offered Masses while he was away.

I love the beauty of the Rocky Mountains; the vistas are spectacular. The skiing was good as well, and the weather was warmer than here: I was skiing on the mountains with temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s. -- While skiing in Colorado I always pray that I don’t hit a tree, and that a snowboarder doesn’t hit me. I was thankful that neither happened.

But I did have a rather eventful start to my journey. Because my flight was from Midway Airport, I drove to the south side of Chicago where I left my car at my folks’ house. The drive to Chicago was fine, but not pulling out of the garage here.

While loading the car, I opened the rear passenger side door to put the seat down for my skiis, then put my suitcase in the rear hatch. Then started my car, clicked the garage door opener and heard the door opening. I was slowly backing out when I hear what sounded like metal grinding on metal. I hit the brakes wondering, “Did I hit the garage door?” No, I forgot to close the back rear passenger side door. I thought to myself, “You idiot!” Needless to say, the door needs some repair work.

Well, back to this week’s Gospel. Jesus invites Peter & Andrew, and James and John, to become His disciples: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They leave their nets and follow Jesus.

Jesus called these brothers, and in fact He calls everyone, to follow Him. We should ponder often – every day, in fact – that we have been called by Christ to be His disciples.

Not only that; today’s Gospel teaches us that as disciples of Christ, all of us are called to participate in the apostolate: We must, like Peter & Andrew, James & John,become “fishers of men” and invite others to become disciples of Christ.

We must imitate the Apostles, whowere not only called to be Jesus’ disciples; at the Last Supper, Jesus told them: “I no longer call you servants, but friends.” And after Christ’s Resurrection, they could no longer contain their joy; they went out to make other disciples, to come to know Jesus and enter into friendship with Him.

At the beginning of this new year of 2018, today’s Gospel offers us an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with Jesus Christ. Do I really consider Jesus to be my friend – my closest, most intimate friend? Do I experience authentic joy is a result of my friendship with Him? If not, why not?

At a school Mass this past week I talked about friendship with Jesus, and I asked the students, “What must we do if we want to remain friends with someond?” A little girl answered, “We have to talk with that person.” Yes! And we must talk to Jesus if He is to be our friend.

If I do not consider Jesus my close, intimate friend, could it be because I don’t spend enough time with Jesus in prayer? True, authentic friendship with someone, based on love, requires that we spend time with and communicate with that person, and this is true with Jesus. And prayer isa loving communication, a dialogue – with God our heavenly Father, with Jesus, our Brother, Friend and Redeemer, and with the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies us.

The poet John Dryden puts it well: “For ‘tis the bliss of friendship’s holy state / To mix their minds, and to communicate / Though bodies cannot, souls can penetrate.”

To grow in friendship with Jesus, we must share with Him our thoughts, our feelings and desires. St. Jerome says: “True friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks.” And Msgr. Hugh Benson, in his book on friendship with Christ, says: “The essence of a perfect friendship is that each friend reveals himself utterly to the other, and shows himself for what he truly is.”

If we have a truly wonderful friend, don’t we want to others to meet him? Of course! And what better friend have we than Jesus?

Once we become true friends of Jesus, and experience the joy of that friendship, we will want to invite others to come to know Him, to enter into a personal relationship with Him in order that they, too, may experience that same joy.

The person best suited to help us enter into authentic friendship with Jesus is Mary, His Mother. No one knows Him better; no one loves Him more; and no one desires more that we come to know Him. Like any good mother, if we ask her, Our Lady will help us to come to better know her Son, to become true friends with Him; and she will form us into true disciples of her Son, and teach us to be worthy workers in the apostolate, that we may help others come to know Jesus, enter into friendship with Him, and thereby share our joy.