In the beginning of this New Year 2010, as I thanked the Lord for the blessing of my natural and religious families, I also remembered the blessing of friends who have accompanied me in this past year, and friends I have "re-connected with" through the help of modern technology.I believe that the invaluable gift of friendship which we receive and give is connected to our faith in the mystery of the Incarnation that we are celebrating these days. Our human friendships are reminders of the great love and friendship of God the Father, manifested in his Son Jesus – our friend, brother, Divine Teacher and Lord – indeed, the Way, the Truth and the Life who leads us back to the Father through the work of his Spirit.
Secondly, our friendships lived within the context of our natural and religious families are also a participation in the life of the Holy Family – in the love which prevailed in the house of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, as each one allowed the Holy Spirit to be the guide and rule of both private and public life.
As a third source of inspiration, I'd like to mention here the celebration we had yesterday, January 2 – the liturgical feast of St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzen. These two Fathers of the Church could really inspire us in making some kind of "examen" as to the friendships we have and we continue to nurture in our life. Here are some excerpts from St. Gregory’s testimony about this holy friendship, delivered on the funeral of his friend St. Basil:
We were contained by Athens, like two branches of some river-stream, for after leaving the common fountain of our fatherland, we had been separated in our varying pursuit of culture, and were now again united by the impulsion of God no less than by our own agreement. I preceded him by a little, but he soon followed me, to be welcomed with great and brilliant hope. (…)
This was the prelude of our friendship. This was the kindling spark of our union: thus we felt the wound of mutual love. (…) And when, as time went on, we acknowledged our mutual affection, and that philosophy was our aim, we were all in all to one another, housemates, messmates, intimates, with one object in life, or an affection for each other ever growing warmer and stronger. (...)
We were impelled by equal hopes, in a pursuit especially obnoxious to envy, that of letters. Yet envy we knew not, and emulation was of service to us. We struggled, not each to gain the first place for himself, but to yield it to the other; for we made each other's reputation to be our own. We seemed to have one soul, inhabiting two bodies. (…)
The sole business of both of us was virtue, and living for the hopes to come, having retired from this world, before our actual departure hence. With a view to this, were directed all our life and actions, under the guidance of the commandment, as we sharpened upon each other our weapons of virtue; and if this is not a great thing for me to say, being a rule and standard to each other, for the distinction between what was right and what was not. (…)
Two ways were known to us, the first of greater value, the second of smaller consequence: the one leading to our sacred buildings and the teachers there, the other to secular instructors. All others we left to those who would pursue them— to feasts, theatres, meetings, banquets. For nothing is in my opinion of value, save that which leads to virtue and to the improvement of its devotees. Different men have different names, derived from their fathers, their families, their pursuits, their exploits: we had but one great business and name— to be and to be called Christians .
For the complete text of this discourse, you can visit this site.
We were contained by Athens, like two branches of some river-stream, for after leaving the common fountain of our fatherland, we had been separated in our varying pursuit of culture, and were now again united by the impulsion of God no less than by our own agreement. I preceded him by a little, but he soon followed me, to be welcomed with great and brilliant hope. (…)
This was the prelude of our friendship. This was the kindling spark of our union: thus we felt the wound of mutual love. (…) And when, as time went on, we acknowledged our mutual affection, and that philosophy was our aim, we were all in all to one another, housemates, messmates, intimates, with one object in life, or an affection for each other ever growing warmer and stronger. (...)
We were impelled by equal hopes, in a pursuit especially obnoxious to envy, that of letters. Yet envy we knew not, and emulation was of service to us. We struggled, not each to gain the first place for himself, but to yield it to the other; for we made each other's reputation to be our own. We seemed to have one soul, inhabiting two bodies. (…)
The sole business of both of us was virtue, and living for the hopes to come, having retired from this world, before our actual departure hence. With a view to this, were directed all our life and actions, under the guidance of the commandment, as we sharpened upon each other our weapons of virtue; and if this is not a great thing for me to say, being a rule and standard to each other, for the distinction between what was right and what was not. (…)
Two ways were known to us, the first of greater value, the second of smaller consequence: the one leading to our sacred buildings and the teachers there, the other to secular instructors. All others we left to those who would pursue them— to feasts, theatres, meetings, banquets. For nothing is in my opinion of value, save that which leads to virtue and to the improvement of its devotees. Different men have different names, derived from their fathers, their families, their pursuits, their exploits: we had but one great business and name— to be and to be called Christians .
