Friends ~ Msgr. Daniel Hoye

Readings for Today
I’m not sure if it’s still the practice, but I recall when I was in grammar school, when we would have a pickup game of some sport that two captains would be chosen - self-declared.  Then from the group, they would choose members of the team – one after the other.  There was nothing you could do to say “I want to be on Team A” or “I want to be on Team B,” you just had to wait until you were chosen.

Maybe that’s what we hear in the Gospel of John where it says, “It is not you who chose me, it was I who chose you,” Christ speaking to the disciples.  So we are thankful to have been chosen—“chosen,” or “selected,” or “called.”  This section of John says that we are friends of Christ.  If you think of that, the image of God that we have - the image of Christ that we have - should not be something so far discord.

If you have ever been to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, you know that huge image of Christ that is on the far wall is a frightening type of Christ – it’s a Byzantine mosaic.  That’s not an image of a friend, that’s a far off image.  Maybe we could be grateful that God, this day, calls us His friend.