Thank God For Friends

I was with a group of “friends” today, talking about “friendship”. It’s a subject we’ve been talking about since we were little kids. In kindergarten we would hear “Who’s your friend Tommy?”. Later we hear, so  Lulu who is your  BFF” (For you old people BFF means “best friend forever”)  Judy asked one of our grandsons, who had recently moved, “So Chuckie, have you made friends in your new neighborhood ..… “I don’t have any friends Gramma, everyone’s over 50 years old”. (Chuckie has a dry sense of humor….and by the way, Chuckie is not his real name) 

There’s a lot one can say about friendship ….. certainly too much to put in a BLOG, even one as “amazingly comprehensive” as this one. Nevertheless, here’s a few things I would like to pass on:

• A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure.There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence.(Sirach 6:14-15)
• C.S. Lewis advises:
  • Friendship is rare…few value it because few experience it. 
  • The beginning of friendship…. “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.” 
  • “Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth…the addition of a new friend only makes other friendships stronger…. when the whole group is together, each brings out all that is best, wisest, or funniest in all the others.” 
• “Two are better than one…. for if one falls, the other will lift him up; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9)

You don’t have to be perfect to be a friend; you can even be annoying at times and still be a good friend. Scripture and the church are filled with great saints and wonderful friends who were at times crabby and even insufferable… my mother’s occasionally term for unbearable crabs.) The great St. Jerome was apparently insufferable at times and even annoyed St. Augustine. In today’s reading St. Paul was pretty crabby with St. Peter. And let’s not even mention St. James and John who brought their mother to Jesus to try a wrangle a better position in the kingdom. Yikes, they weren’t perfect, but they became saints and they were true friends.

Well, true friends help each other get to heaven, and hopefully they also enjoy each other. I’m blessed to have a number of true friends and we “like, as well as love” each other. We encourage one another to love Jesus.  We like to play pinochle together and eat ice cream. We like to talk about the Yankees and Mets and Giants and the Cardinals. We tell each other jokes and laugh even if they aren’t that funny…but generally they are pretty funny. Hmmmmm….. I wonder if Jesus ever told a joke. I sure hope he did. 

Having friends really helps us get through tough times. Thank you Lord for good and holy friends.