THIS IS TRUE FRIENDSHIP

           “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hands, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with friendship.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

            Nothing but heaven itself”, says Plautus, “is better than a friend who is really a friend”. Friendship, even though not counted among the basic needs of man is almost an indispensable part of our existence. We all need and desire to love, be loved and relate with others. As Aristotle puts it “no one would choose the whole world on condition of being alone, since man is a political creature one whose nature is to live with others.” Friendship is nothing but a mutually recognized feeling of goodwill between two persons; if only one person has a feeling of goodwill then it is not friendship and even if the two have feelings of goodwill towards each other but it is left hidden in the heart and not expressed, it is also not friendship. Friendship implies intimacy and deep sharing. Thus, when Jesus tried to show how intimate He wants us to be with him, He said, “I no longer call you servants, … but friends.” True friends are considered gifts from the Most high.

Friendship, however, needful and common it is, is a controversial issue especially as regards what true friendship is. Following Aristotle’s line of thought, there are three types of friendship. Friendship of Utility, Friendship of Pleasure and Friendship of Virtue.

MARY. LOVE EXEMPLIFIED.

        

            Man, by nature, desires to share and to live together with others. Even God affirmed this in the book of Genesis, when He said that it is not good for a man to be alone. Aristotle adds that man is a political being, whose nature it is to live with others and also, that no one would choose the whole world on the condition of being alone. All this owes to the fact that inherent in us is the desire to love and to be loved, the desire to share intimately with others and to be shared with. In other words we desire to live in communion. It is, also, the case that the virtue which most effectively, makes this our tendency to communion most enjoyable and livable is Love. Love, the most used four-letters word. This word means different things to different people. To some, it is taking advantage of others for our own usefulness, however unconscious this maybe. To others it is to be treated the way we want. To some still, it is all about a pleasure-seeking venture but to those who truly understand, it entails sacrificing our comfort and pleasures, in other to do all for the good of the other. Little wonder He who totally gave himself  for us commanded us to love others as he loved us.

St. Thomas, the Apostle. A HEALING DISBELIEF

   

Some persons are of the opinion, perhaps through experience, that those who repented from a terrible and sinful way of life, love God more than those who have been pure all through their lives, and those who once doubted a particular idea or truth, believes with greater strength, once they are convinced. This, as history has proven, is not always the case. We have the lives of such figures like St. Theresa of the child Jesus and St. Catherine of Siena as prove against the idea. However, this seems to be the case with the Holy Apostle, St. Thomas.

   

St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio

We, creatures of God, are all children of the same Father. There is always a necessary connection between all children of the same father. It is only our sins that causes a kind of distancing between us and our other brethren in nature. St. Francis, the perfect imitator of Christ, through his life of holiness, traced back his roots with his brethren to a great extent. His life of Holiness and deep sense of the universal brotherhood, both with men and other creatures, gained him a filial relationship with all creatures of God. So, it was the case that he could communicate with animals and they would understand and obey his words.

     Thus, around the year 1220, in the town of Gubbio. There was a fierce wolf that began to devour the lives of both humans and livestock. The presence of the wolf began to spread much fear among the populace. It always stationed outside the town gates waiting for anyone that would dare to venture alone to devour him. All those who tried to kill it, received the same fate as those who ventured outside the city gates alone. 

I AM SPECIAL: SO ARE YOU! SO, WHY THE JEALOUSY? (Cf. Psalm 139:14)

God created everything in his love and at the end of all his creation, He admired it and saw that it was good.

Human beings were the last thing God created to take care of all other creatures. In God's great love, he made us in his image and likeness. What a great handiwork of God we are! What other creature of God was created in his image? None but we humans!

Psalm 139 described our uniqueness, giftedness and our preciousness in the eyes of god. As we are uniquely created, so we are diversely gifted (Cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-11). But our various gifts are to be used to achieve a common goal which is to praise and glorify god, and to build up the community. It is not for us to become competitive, jealous or envious of one another (Cf. Rom. 12:4-8;1 Cor. 12:12-31).