Feb. 19, 2012: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

What do you think are the qualities of a good friend? Some may think that a good friend is loyal, supportive, attentive, open and honest. Do you have a friend like that right now? There is a beautiful quote on friendship in the Book of Sirach, "A faithful friend is a strong support; whoever finds one has found a treasure" (Sirach 6:14ff.) We all know that a friend can have a positive influence on us, but he could also influence us negatively. You have heard the saying, “The company you keep will determine the trouble you meet.”

Have you had friends who led you down the wrong path?  During my high school days, I hung around with students who were considered outcasts. They had eccentric hair, clothes, and opinions, and they were into strange New Age beliefs. Although I spent only a year hanging around with them, during that time, I lost all traces of my Christian faith.  Once I lost faith in God, everything in my life became much more difficult. I no longer believed that Jesus was always with me, but rather, I believed that I was my own ‘god’ who could make up the rules for my life as well as determine what was truly good and bad for me. I had lost my moral compass, and without that, I did things that hurt me spiritually and emotionally, without realizing that I was being harmed.  I tried to live independently from God, but without him, I suffered through periods of depression and lived through some dark times in my life.

All along, it was my decision to turn from the Heavenly Father, it was my decision to continue down a path that made me spiritually weak, and it was my decision to participate in activities that were sinful.  No matter the sin we commit, it is our decision to commit it. The further we move away from the Father, the further we move down the path of sinfulness, the weaker we become. Sometime, we become so weak that we cannot return to the Father on our own.

How important it is to have faith-filled friends around us! We are much stronger when we surround ourselves with faith-filled friends. Such friends can save us when we ourselves cannot help ourselves. We see a great example of that in today’s gospel. A man who was paralyzed and could not walk had friends who cared about him and wanted him healed. Perhaps the man himself was skeptical, but his friends were faith-filled and believed that Jesus could heal him. Jesus saw the faith and charity of his friends and was moved with compassion. The first thing Jesus said to the paralytic man was, "Child, your sins are forgiven." Perhaps this was not what the paralytic or his friends expected to hear. But Jesus saw the deeper paralysis that came with sin. Isn’t that what we see in some of our friends, too? It isn’t that they are physically ill, but they are ill in their soul. They have made decision by their sins to turn from the Lord, and their souls have become weak to the point that they are paralyzed. The Lord is no longer on their mind and heart, and they feel lost.

In the book titled “Imitation of Christ,” Thomas a Kempis writes, “When Jesus is near, all is well and nothing seems difficult. When He is absent, all is hard. When Jesus does not speak within, all other comfort is empty, but if He says only a word, it brings great consolation.” If one of us is that faith-filled friend to a person who seems lost, then we will believe that our friend needs Jesus to speak to his heart and to hear that Jesus forgives him.

When I was in Medjugorje several years ago, I visited a community for recovering young men and women addicts called Cenacolo. During a meeting there, a young man gave his testimony about his addiction. He said that he was brought up in a good Catholic home in Italy and lived a comfortable life where his parents provided whatever he wanted. He became involved with the ‘wrong’ crowd and began to abuse drugs. The drugs then led him led him to stealing and then to jail. Subsequently, after living homeless and hitting rock bottom, his parents brought him to the Cenacolo Community. He said, the physical withdrawal from the drug took only 4 days; however, his spiritual healing required more than 3 years. He said that the most difficult part of his healing process was facing himself—his sins that caused the rift and hurts in his family, sins that turned him away from the Heavenly Father. He said that what strengthened him were his new friends inside the Community.  They were faith-filled friends who prayed with him and kept him accountable for decisions he made.  That young man realized that of all the things he needed in his life, he needed Jesus the most.  He sought Jesus’ divine mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and mass. 

Thomas a Kempis writes, “You must bring to God a clean and open heart if you wish to attend and see how sweet the Lord is. Truly you will never attain this happiness unless His grace prepares you and draws you on so that you may forsake all things to be united with Him alone.” We are all called to help one another in our faith journeys. Our acts of faith and charity may be what will bring our struggling friends to Jesus. Then Our Lord, through His merciful love and forgiveness, will bring healing and restoration to all.