Word to the Wise
Friday, February 28, 2025 - Friday in the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 6:5-17 and Mark 10:1-12]A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself. [Sirach]
The words of Sirach today are a hymn to friendship and especially to friendship inspired by the love of God who is the source of all true love. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of loving a friend because we love God in the friend. A friend wants the very best for a friend and the presence of God is the highest gift. That being said, I can testify personally that friendship gives me the life of God because it is God that gives the ability to love humanly. Christ is the best example and he speaks to this when he says to the disciples, "I no longer call you servants, I call you friends because I have made known my Father to you." It is when two people share the love of God that is in them with each other.
Aristotle speaks to many different kinds of "friendship" which could be simply on the level of a shared interest or usefulness. The kind of friendship that endures requires the acceptance of another with all their virtues and vices. That kind of acceptance requires trust that is deep. I think many a marriage has suffered because the spouses were simply attracted to each other but never really became friends. A commitment to steady communication and forgiveness is required and these can be a challenge in an age when even a cell phone text seems to be impossible because we are too "busy."
The blessings promised by the Book of Sirach are available to us if we open ourselves to receive them. The words of Victor Hugo, which appear in the musical Les Miserables are worth remembering: "To love another is to see the face of God." AMEN