St. Paul considered his friendship with Jesus the most important thing in his life.  “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.”  (Phil. 3:8 NIV)

He considered his friendship with Jesus more important than his ministry, preaching, miracles, prophesies and every aspect of his life.  Jesus seemed to confirm this importance in his final prayer to the Father on behalf of the disciples when he prayed, “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God and the one whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) The knowledge that Jesus was referring to was not just knowing about God and himself but knowing the Father and the Son as a person and friend.   

For over 45 years I have been meeting with Jesus nearly every morning for coffee.  We are friends like my best friend who is my wife; like a few Christian brothers who know me inside and out.  I read some scripture, usually the daily readings for mass and excerpts from the Liturgy of the Hours.  Jesus often speaks to me through scripture giving me insight to a particular passage or he puts thoughts in my mind about another person or an upcoming event.  I look on these as guidance from him.  While I am still capable of messing up, his friendship helps me to seek forgiveness whenever I do.

Jesuit author William A. Barry in his book, A Friendship Like No Other, says that a major way in which God communicates with us is through our imagination, memories, insights and thoughts.  Whether they are from God is a question of discernment, which is often determined by the fruit of what follows.

Jesus told the disciples, “I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15) We have the benefit of scripture to learn about the Father and the Son, and the opportunity to accept their offer to dwell within us. (John 14:23) We also have our God-created ability to think, imagine, and receive insights.  This, in combination with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the sacraments of the church enable us to establish a friendship with the Father and the Son.    

Friends share knowledge and experiences.  A husband and wife share intimate details about their respective lives.  Good friends share joys, sorrows, and the mundane.  

Have you sought this kind of friendship with Jesus?  

“Ten days passed before the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.” (Jeremiah 42:7)

Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 B. C. and the exile of much of the Jewish leadership, a remnant of leading Jewish citizens asked Jeremiah what the Lord wanted them to do. Jeremiah went to the Lord on their behalf, but the Lord took ten days before he answered him. 

It is interesting to note that God did not answer Jeremiah immediately but waited ten days.  While ten days may not sound long, it was apparently significant enough for this Old Testament author to mention it. 

Christians often lament on how long the Lord takes to respond to their prayers.  Yet our patience is often rewarded, as the following story illustrates.

Our daughter, Emily, who was born with Down syndrome, worked at a bakery and catering business for twelve years after her schooling.  The business shut down during COVID and never reopened.  The following year she worked at a similar business for a time, but it was not as pleasant a working environment and she did not have the peers that she was accustomed to working with in the former business.  As a result, she became very sad and stopped working.  We prayed for over a year for a new work opportunity to develop but none did. 

Then my wife and our other daughters came up with the idea for her to serve coffee and cookies for people who attended daily mass at our parish for a couple of days during the week.  They named the ministry “Coffee and Community.”  The parish staff and pastor approved the idea, we hired a job coach to help with preparation of the coffee, and Emily and my wife make the cookies.  She loves greeting people, giving them a hug, a cup for their coffee, and some cookies.  The custodian sets up three round tables and anywhere from a dozen to thirty or more people show up for a cup of coffee, a cookie, and great fellowship. 

We prayed for over a year for just the right job for Emily.  The Lord not only gave her work to do, but a whole new set of friends.  She loves the people, and the people love her as well as the fellowship they enjoy with one another.   

God is faithful!  Sometimes his response takes time for various circumstances to develop so that the answer is in furtherance of his perfect will and Kingdom. 

Are you waiting on God to answer a particular prayer?    

In the late 1970’s my wife and I were prayed with for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  We each experienced a renewal of our faith and the presence of God in a way we had not before.  A year later we attended a Christian rally in the old Shea Stadium in New York along with several friends from our parish prayer group.  After listening to a talk on healing, the speaker asked the 30,000 people in attendance to turn to one another and pray for any needs of healing. 

Our friends, said, “Let’s pray for Bill’s eyes.” (I had been previously diagnosed with glaucoma and experienced the loss of about 30% of my field of vision.)  They laid hands on me and prayed that my vision would be restored.  The following Monday morning, I just happened to have one of my quarterly examinations with my ophthalmologist and he just happened to conduct an annual field of vision test.  As he conducted the test I began to hear him say “hum” repeatedly.  After about the fourth “hum” I asked if there was something wrong.  He said, “Well, you seem to have a full field of vision.”  I said, “I thought you told me I could never recover the vision I had lost. He said, “Yes, I did.” 

I then told him where I had been on Saturday and how some friends prayed with me for healing, and he said, “Well, I will take all the help I can get.”

To our friends and us, it was a physical affirmation of God’s presence in our lives, a sign of the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and the world today.  We weren’t looking for a sign to believe.  We believed and would have continued to believe even without the sign.  But it built up our faith and affirmed the reality of God’s presence and love for us.

St. Paul said, “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5) St. Paul is telling the Thessalonians that he knows that they were chosen by God because the gospel came to them not only with words, but with power in the Holy Spirit.

Signs of God’s presence can take many forms.  Perhaps the most powerful and lasting is a changed heart.  Jesus’ interaction with Zacchaeus was not accompanied by a physical sign of healing, but it did result in a changed heart with a far more enduring effect on Zacchaeus and no doubt the people in his life. (Luke 19:1-10)

How have you seen a sign of God’s presence in your life?