Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- I have A Friend In Jesus

Word On Fire Ministry ^ | 5.12.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER
John 15:12-17

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us his friends.

Psychologists tell us that a true friend is someone who has seen us at our worst and still loves us.
If you have encountered me only on my best days,
I have no guarantee that you are my friend.
But when you have dealt with me when I am most obnoxious and you still love me,
then I am sure that you are my friend.

The old Gospel song says, “What a friend we have in Jesus!”
This is not pious sentimentalism; it is the heart of the matter.
What the first Christians saw in the dying and rising of Jesus
is that we killed God, and God returned in forgiving love.
He saw us at our very worst and loved us anyway.

Thus they saw confirmed in flesh and blood what Jesus had said the night before he died:
“I no longer call you slaves. . . . I have called you friends.”
They realized, in the drama of the Paschal Mystery,
that we have not only been shown a new way;
we have been drawn into a new life,
a life of friendship with God.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus said to his disciples:
"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name
he may give you.
This I command you: love one another."+++

[No name given]

Amen 🙏🏻!!!!

[dadfly]

Amen!

[Arkansas Toothpick]

I’m not Roman Catholic, but I thought of they hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” when I read the title. Lo and behold, the reverend mentions said song.

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer!

[MurphsLaw]

Well I can't say I have ever heard it sung in a Catholic Church;
But I do enjoy Aretha's version alot...
LOL...though truth be told,
Norman Greenbaum came to mind initially reading this...
And he was Jewish !