Friday, May 7, 2010

Homily – May 7, 2010 – Fifth Week of Easter - Friday

+ I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me. It is very easy to fail to recognize the full import of these words. I call you my friends, says the Lord! This is enormous! God is – once again calling man his FRIEND! The Great Friendship that God had with Adam and his wife, Eve, was not only classic - it was primordial, it was pristine, it was the essence of God's great wish to communicate in a personal and supportive way with the highest form of his creation: human beings. But, unfortunately, very unfortunately, mankind rejected that quintessential relationship with God and instead made a pact with the Devil – thus breaking the Divine Friendship with God, potentially, forever; and introducing the Dark Forces of Evil upon the world – which is none other than the true nature of the Great Friendship gone awry.

And so, now, thanks to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus – having restored that Divine Friendship to its original status – Jesus invites men and women – children of Adam and Eve – back into that relationship restored. I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me concerning the restoration of a broken relationship. Yes, it is possible to "fix" broken relationships. If it were not, then we all would be in trouble. In the gospel passage, Jesus, after reminding the disciples that they are now free once again to enter into the Divine Friendship tells them that the glue that will now hold that friendship together will be love – which is what made the restoration possible in the first place (by his Death on the Cross). When we love selflessly, self-sacrificially as Jesus did, for his sake, then we participate in the Divine Friendship both with God and with one another!

And this "communion of Friendship" is for all: both Jews and Gentiles alike – as our first reading relates – and "without the Gentiles first having to become Jewish" in order to belong to the communion! God invites all men and women and children directly into his family – as adopted and o so loved members and friends! May we revel today in the mercy of God and his invitation to Divine Friendship with him and one another! And may it lead us to works of loving friendship and caring concern for any who need it!

I call you my friends, says the Lord, for I have made known to you all that the Father has told me – regarding this great "love story" about Divine Friendship regained!

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