Friendship

Today the Church celebrates the feasts of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen. In celebrating their feasts on the same day, the Church praises a virtue which has always been held in high esteem, that of friendship. Basil and Gregory met and became great friends while studying in Athens. They shared the same desire of growing in truth, wisdom and knowledge. They both became priests and then bishops. They lived during a time of heresies and endured much suffering for the sake of the Truth. They lived a life of charity and St. Basil had a special love for the poor. Their lives of service are truly an example of the life we are called to live.

True friendship is a great treasure and to find someone who longs to love and serve the Lord just as you do is truly a gift. Many people come in and out of our lives. Often times they don’t share our same desire to grow in holiness. It isn’t that they are “bad”; they just don’t seem to have the same yearning in their heart to know Him. When I was visiting family over Christmas none of my siblings had a desire to go to daily Mass or read scripture daily. They have no idea when the last time was that they went to confession and they are fine with that. It makes me feel like an outsider and I longed to be back home, back in my routine of daily Mass, spending time on my reflections and going to Adoration. I am envious of couples who share a love for God, couples who pray together, read scripture together and can talk about their struggles and God’s incredible mercy. I long to have a spiritual connection with my husband; to be in awe of God and to talk about how we can grow in holiness together. To make our home a place where we welcome God into every aspect of our life, especially in raising our sons.  This is something that I long for, something that I pray for.  

I give thanks for the friendships that God has blessed me with especially those who share a love for our Lord. Some of these friendships are meant only for a season. Sometimes we make a strong bond with a friend and they may walk with us on our journey of faith for a while but then the Lord leads us down separate paths. This was so hard for me at first because I’d never known unconditional love and I wanted to cling to it. I’ve had people in my life that have shown me the love of Christ, a love I had never experienced before and I didn’t want to let them go. But I have learned that it is part of this journey of faith. Friends who share their love for God are like sunshine, they help each other to bloom and radiate their love of Christ, brightening the world around them.  

“A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.” (Sirach 6:14-17)