Can we truly be friends with God? Yes! Our call to love God is a call to a deeper relationship, which also means loving all those whom God loves. Deacon Tom Elitz, SJ, reflects on this call to greater friendship with God. Based on the readings for Sunday, October 29, 2023.
Is it really possible to be friends with God?
Hi, I’m Deacon Tom Elitz, and this is my One-Minute Homily.
Thomas Aquinas has this rather wild idea that we should be genuine friends with God. In fact, with God, we should have the highest form of friendship.
When we are truly friends with someone, thinks Aquinas, we will also love all those who matter to our friend – our friend’s family and other friends – even if those people don’t seem so lovable to us.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to love God above all. But if we are truly friends with God, we will love all those whom God loves. And the truth is that God loves everyone.
So, as God’s friends, we are called to love everyone – maybe especially those people we find it hard to love. Today we can consider new ways to express our friendship with God, by loving others as God loves them.
