John The Apostle

one

Today is the feast of St. John, the Apostle.

According to tradition, John is the disciple whom Jesus loved, who at the Last Supper rested his head upon the heart of Jesus, stood at the foot of the cross together with the Mother of Jesus and witnessed both the empty tomb and the presence of the Risen One himself.

All of all the truths to which John leaves a testimony, let us focus on this: Through Jesus, God came to establish an intimate friendship with us. Jesus said: Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends…No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:31-15

two

We know what real friendship takes.

If we want to be a friend of Jesus, then there is no substitute for time spent with him. Time talking to him from the heart, listening to him in the Scriptures and just being with him in silence.

An acquaintance knows something about a person, but they can’t really say they are close friends. If you have a desire for an intimate friendship with Jesus then try this. Every day read the life of Jesus in the Gospel of John for fifteen minutes and then think about it for another 15. Do this every day and you will become a fast friend of Our Lord.

three

There are three enemies of friendship with Jesus: Busyness,  screens, and noise

We live in a culture in which we think we need to produce to prove our value. It results in an anxiety and depression where we never feel good enough. This feeds the constant need to be busy, to produce, to be relevant, to be loved.

The Apostle John learned he was valuable by resting his head upon the Sacred Heart. Jesus loved him. From this foundation of love John did exception things. 

You can’t make yourself valuable. So stop trying. Receive your worth as a gift. You are loved by Christ. But you’ll never know until you slow down and just be with Him.

four

Screens

There is lots of time each day to spend in friendship with Jesus. But we don’t. Why? Because we are never without out screens. Phones used to be on the wall. Now they are on our body and we are enslaved.

My daughter Grace is an aerospace engineer who works on classified projects. They have to leave their phone and personal computer in another room – all day. She doesn’t die and the world doesn’t end. We should do something similar.

Separate your phone from your body for at least 2 waking hours each day and you will have lots of time for friendship with Jesus and family and friends.

five

The third enemy is constant noise

Mother Teresa said: “It can be difficult to pray when we don’t know how, but we can help ourselves through the use of silence. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence. This silence takes a lot of sacrifice, but if we really want to pray, we must be ready to take that step now. Without this first step toward silence, we will not be able to reach our goal, which is union with God.

We forget that in the silence of the heart God speaks, and from the fullness of the heart we speak. Only when we have heard him in the silence of our hearts, only when we have learned to listen to God in the silence of our hearts, only then can we say: I pray.

The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service.
The fruit of service is peace.”

So what is keeping us from silence and friendship with God who dwells in your heart?