The Gospel of John, chapter 14:6

How would you like to be God’s close friend? Does that sound like an incredible question, an almost irreverent one? It should not be. Becoming God’s intimate friend is what following Christ is all about. Christianity is not a religion like other religions. We do not adore a divine power in some inaccessible space nor do we make God so formless that he is nowhere at all. Instead, Jesus shows us that God is indeed the great and powerful creator of heaven and earth, and he wants you and me to be his close friends. He wants to come and live within our hearts and be as close to us as our own skins are to our flesh. Intimacy with God is our calling as Christians. He is our own Father and we are His children.

Wonderful, isn’t it?

Children love to draw pictures, and through them they reveal much of what they understand and believe. When asked to draw a picture of God, a child drew a picture of a whole family. God was in the center of the family and near him were the children and their parents. What a simple and unaffected way to think of God! He is, after all, our Father; someone who loves us better than the best of fathers. He is even closer to us than a father and more perfect in His love.

Our close friendship with God is sealed with the blood of Christ. This frees us to love God and one another without qualification.

Today’s Gospel story (John 14: 1-12) relates an important discussion that took place between St. Thomas and Jesus. St. Thomas asked Jesus to show him the Father. Jesus replied: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Our Father in Heaven no longer resides in the great beyond; he has come among us in the person of Jesus. We touch Him; we feel Him; we receive Him in the bread of life, the Eucharist.

We also touch Him, feel Him, and receive Him when we see Christ in each other.

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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