5/8/2015 – Friday of the fifth week of Easter – John 15:12-17

      Yesterday’s reading from the Gospel of John spoke about the importance of keeping God’s commandments and remaining in the love of Christ. Today’s Gospel continues from where we left off yesterday.  Today, what strikes me is the use of the concept of friendship – of laying down one’s life for one’s friend, of Jesus calling us his friends.  Jesus does not call those he addresses his disciples or his students or his followers – he calls them his friends.  However, most of us can think of dear friendship that we have, of friends that are as close as brothers and sisters to us, or even closer than our biological brothers and sisters in our adult lives.  St Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, Italy in the 4^th century and one of the four original doctors of the Church had this to say about friendship: Let us reveal what is in our hearts to a friend, and let him reveal what is in his hearts to us. A friend hides nothing, if he is true: he pours forth his mind, just as the Lord Jesus poured forth the mysteries of his Father.” In the spirit of agape love, in the spirit of true friendship, our calling as disciples of Christ is to reach out to our neighbor out of our faith and out of our entire being.  May we accept that call.