Prayer: Conversing with God as a Friend

Rembrandt's Stoning of Stephen

This Memorial Day weekend, we remember again the men and women who died in the wars of our country.  The total number slain is staggering: some 1.2 million killed during America’s eleven major conflicts. Let's pause to pray for these brave men and women who gave the last full measure of devotion, per Lincoln's Gettysburg address. May God grant them eternal life.

The word of God takes us back to the beginnings of Christianity. The question then was: do Christian non-Jews have to observe Jewish practices? Paul and Barnabas discussed this with the apostles. Together they came to a compromise to avoid scandal. Yes, Gentile Christians should observe some Jewish practices, but they don’t have to observe all Jewish practices to be disciples of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus alone through his dying and rising renewed our relationship with God. He is our way, our truth, our life.

How do we resolve tensions or conflicts? Like most things we have to work at good relationships.

The Gospel according to John takes us back to the farewell address of Jesus at his Last Supper. Jesus considers how his community will continue after his departure. The disciples should be faithful to his words, especially his new commandment—to love one another. But the community will need guidance. Jesus promises to send the Spirit, who will energize and guide this community of disciples, the Church, into the fullness of God’s kingdom.

The book of Revelation describes a mystical experience, an awesome new vision of reality.

This Easter season, we have met different biblical personalities. Today we introduce Stephen. A Spirit-filled leader, a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian, Stephen worked signs and wonders and proclaimed courageously that Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic promises made to ancient Israel. Stephen had a visionary experience of the glory of God, outraged Jewish authorities with his claims about Jesus as gloriously alive, and was dragged outside Jerusalem and stoned to death.

Stephen was the proto martyr of Christianity. His death was like that of Jesus, in the sense that he forgave his executioners and cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Would that all of us could make that cry at the end of our life.

I believe Stephen had an intense relationship with God, nurtured through prayer. Now, what is prayer? We wake up to clock radios, watch TV at breakfast, listen to the car radio; check Facebook, Instagram, iPhones, e-mail, and so forth, all of which distract us from hearing God’s voice in our lives. There’s so much noise we can’t hear ourselves think.

For Jesus and the heroes and heroines of Christianity, prayer was their top priority. Not only at mass or the Eucharist, but quietly and alone as well. As Mother Teresa put it, “God speaks to us; we listen. We speak to God; He listens.” Prayer is a two-way street.

And does God answer our prayers? Put simply: Yes, but not always as we like.

The Spirit-filled Stephen invites us to pray, to converse with God as we would with a true friend, a friendship based on God's unconditional love for us. May we nurture our friendship with God through daily prayer. Amen.

Who Is Jesus?

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” In other words, what does Jesus mean to us? What do we mean to Jesus?

The Gospel writers give us four different portraits or faces of Jesus because they wrote to four different audiences and emphasized four different ways to follow Jesus.

Jesus is a rabbi or teacher in Matthew; so too should we be teachers, especially by example and the practice of virtue.
In Mark, Jesus is a suffering Messiah; so too we may have to cope with illness or make sacrifices.
In Luke, Jesus is a healer or peacemaker; so should we be in our relationships with one another.
In John, Jesus calls us "friend"; so too should we seek Jesus as a friend especially in prayer.

What image of Jesus inspires us to become a faithful disciple of Jesus?

How did the early Christian community see Jesus? The more the early Christian community reflected on who Jesus was, the more they saw Jesus not only as the fulfillment of their hopes but the foundation. The eternal Word! The Gospel according to John captures this magnificently: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

This God-human Jesus was a real historical person, flesh and blood. He experienced, as we sometimes do, fatigue, hunger, satisfaction, joy, friendship, anger, disappointment and loneliness.
He was a teacher, a prophet who preached that the kingdom of God was breaking into our lives. He worked signs and wonders, proclaiming that good ultimately would triumph over evil; he possessed authority to forgive wrongdoings; he promised eternal life.He had a unique relationship with God; he was one with God, true God and truly human. He was crucified, died and then raised up in glory to God. And he is alive in our midst today, especially in the sacramental life of the Church community.

Jesus taught not only that the kingdom of God was breaking into our lives but also that we can share in this kingdom. By living prayerfully; by recognizing that our lives have an ultimate purpose because our lives are no accident; by seeing in Jesus, the Word made flesh, the face of God; by reaching out compassionately and generously to people who touch our lives each day; by experiencing the presence of the living Christ in our sacramental life; and by being ready to let go of our earthly life, in the mystery of death, so that we can be one with God forever.

Jesus taught that God is our Father, a compassionate God, always near us. As disciples we too will experience pain and grief and disappointment, and love and friendship.

Jesus then challenges us to “take up our crosses” (Matthew 16:24), whatever they might be; and to follow Jesus’s life is to find our own. For the only Gospel some people may ever know is how we live our everyday lives.

Best Friends Forever

DaVinci's Last Supper in Milan, Italy

It’s “back-to-school time.” I’m going to give you a 2-part quiz. Part 1:
Who were the last two teams to win the Super Bowl?
Name the two wealthiest people in the world (according to Forbes Magazine).
I didn’t get 100%. Now part 2:
Think of two teachers who made a difference for the better in your life.
Name two friends who helped you through a difficult time.
I bet you named people there.

The point is simple: we quickly forget "super bowl" headlines. However, we don't forget those “heroes and heroines” who mentored or coached us through challenges, and who helped us answer the question: what on earth am I here for.  That, my friends, is precisely what Jesus does: our way, our truth and our life.

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus says he is the bread of life who can transform us into new creatures. Elsewhere Jesus works a sign/a wonder: he multiplies the loaves and fish, sharing with the hungry crowd.

As a community of disciples, Jesus satisfies our spiritual hunger at the table of the Lord with the bread of life, the Eucharist.

Jesus is our rabbi/teacher who shows us purpose in life, to live in relationship with Gode and one another forever.  He is our trustworthy friend who is always with us especially as we face challenges. And he's our mentor who graces us so that we can become the best version of ourselves.

This living Christ invites us, so says John 15:15, to be “friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.”

Now, what is a friend? I recently came across a survey of 800 so-called young millennials. The results gave a snapshot of a lonely generation. Many had a large number of “Facebook friends” but still felt a sense of loneliness. Social media, of course, is no substitute for real, face-to-face friendships.

The Bible is very realistic about friendships. We see examples of relationships at their best, and also at their worst.

For me, friendships include at least three ingredients. First, partnerships. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two. From the beginning of Christianity, we see friends working together. Paul and Barnabas, for example, “dedicated their lives ... to Jesus Christ.” We read they had a disagreement, parted company. But in the providence of God, Barnabas found a new partner in Mark, Paul partnered with Silas, and they went “through Syria and Cilicia, bringing strength to the churches.” (Acts 15:41). Yes, value partnerships, in marriage, in work, in the community.

Second, nurture friendships. Martin Luther King Jr. gave some good advice about how to do this, reminding us: “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.” Absolutely true in nurturing friendships.

Finally, make loyalty a priority.  If we sow loyalty, we will reap loyalty. We will even become trustworthy among those who aren't our friends.

Above all, think of Jesus as our best friend, soulmate and confidant, our kindly light forever.