Friendship, Sin, and Happiness

ONE

One of the greatest joys life has to offer is Friendship.

Friendship is two people who are united in wanting, pursuing, and enjoying the same good thing.

It might be two guys who love golf, play it often together and really enjoy it. Or two gals who love to travel and delight in the new experiences. Or it could be two people who want a deeper friendship with God, are committed to a life of prayer and take pleasure in talking about it.

The better the friend and the higher the good you both love the greater will be your happiness.

And the greatest friendship is with God because we want and pursue and enjoy infinite truth, beauty, and goodness with Him. 

TWO

What does Jesus love? The will of the Father.

We experience the will of the Father in two ways:

By His design for the human person which is expressed by the Ten Commandments and the Moral Law of the Catholic Church.

The second way we experience the will of God is through His providence by which He guides all things for good. 

If we reject these by sin or rebel against them by complaining, then we no longer want what Jesus wants – that God’s will be done. If we no longer care about that, then we separate ourselves from our friend – Jesus.

THREE

If we don’t feel close to Jesus, it might be because we are sinning or complaining, by actively going against God’s design for the human person or complaining about the way He allows the universe to run. 

When we act against this design we disregard the will of God.

But we also reject the will of God when we complain about what God has allowed in our life. These are the things we did not choose, do not like, and cannot change. But since God has allowed them – they are His will. To complain about them is to reject God’s will.

If we don’t care about loving, doing, and accepting God’s will, which is the only thing Jesus cares about – then we separate ourselves from our friendship with him.

FOUR

How do we restore our friendship with Jesus if we are guilty of sinning or complaining?

Once we have sinned, we restore our relationship with Jesus by contrition, otherwise known as sorrow - the sacrament of confession where we tell Jesus we are sorry, we ask for His forgiveness and we have the firm resolution to amend our life – to live according to God’s design and his moral law.

See we must live according to God’s design, with his will if we want to be friends with Jesus.

FIVE

We can restore our friendship with Jesus after complaining by accepting all that God allows in our life with gratitude.

God allows things in our life we did not choose, do not like and cannot change. This is an expression of God’s will – His permissive will.

If we accept them and even thank God for them, we demonstrate we love the will of God which deepens our friendship with Jesus.

St. Paul wrote; “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”