Called to Be Friends

In these times when friendship of all sorts is cruelly tested, what we need most is to have a compassionate heart. We are called to be friends, to grow in love and to deepen the quality of our relationships with others. Jesus said: "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love... This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you ... I shall not call you servants any more ... I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father."

Warmth and tende
ess was Jesus's way of life. Reaching out to others makes us vulnerable and it is a risky thing to do because we can be rejected. Feelings of rejection is something we avoid at all costs. We can find in unlikely places, places that are open to us only through the door of risking possible rejection. Loving is no superficial task. Love calls for a commitment. Menachem Begin, in a meeting at Camp David with Jimmy Carter and Anwar Sadat, back in the 80's said: "The task of all of life is to make of every enemy a friend and of every stranger a neighbor." When we can reach across barriers of fear and prejudice we discover that there is a friend in every stranger.

We are all on a journey. In this journey we are all invited to discover the meaning and the goodness of living. Each person's life enriches the life of others. Each person's insights open new possibilities for all the others on the journey. We are just beginning to understand what it means to be human. There is so much to be learned about human feelings and the power of their energy. Loving well is a meaningful and satisfying experience, it's the way we have of sharing the unique gift that we are. We are called to live here and now. We are called to be involved in all of human life not as spectators waiting for a "better land" but as participants who shape and give direction to the quality of our lives.

Our love is tested in our relationships with others. It is not easy to say to another person, "I am your friend". Our life is a network of human relationships, sometimes simple and sometimes complex, " but as long as we love one another, God will live in us and His love will be complete in us." (I Joh
4:12)
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