Gospel: (Jn 15:9-17)
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit–fruit that will last–and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
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St. Faustina noted in her Diary (D. 1487, 1575, 247, 877)
Tell it to Me straight, like a friend to a friend.
I greet You, Jesus, never withering flower of humanity, You are the Only One for my soul. Your love is purer than the lily, and Your company is more pleasant for me than the fragrance of the hyacinth. Your friendship is gentler and more delicate than the scent of the rose, and yet mightier than death.
O Jesus, Friend of the lonely heart, You are my haven. You are my peace, You are my only refuge, You are my consolation in times of strife and on the sea of doubt. You are the bright ray that enlightens my life’s path. You are everything for the lonely soul. You understand the soul, even though it is silent. You know our weaknesses and, like a good doctor, you comfort and heal us, saving us some of the suffering, like the good expert You are.
O Jesus hidden away in the Host, my sweet Master and faithful Friend, how happy my soul is always to have the company of such a friend, I never feel lonely even though I’m in isolation. O Jesus, O Host, we know each other, and that is enough for me.
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- Jesus carries in His heart a great desire for friendship with me. Do I want to have such a close relationship with Him?
- Jesus loves me so much that He has made known to me everything He learned from the Father. Just as He died on the cross, stripped of his clothes, naked, transparent to the end, so even now He has nothing to hide from me. Do I trust him?
- Today I invite Jesus into my life not only as my only Lord, but also as my best friend!
