This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
6th Sunday of EasterMy Mother is the first friend…..Jesus is the best friend…….!Acts10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1Jn4:7-10; Jn15:9-17Dear sisters, Brothers and Children, we have gathered as one family with one faith to share and celebrate our life and goodness in the Eucharistic celebration. We are proud of our mothers as we remember Mother’s Day. Our Mother is the first teacher, first guide and first mentor, teaching us the language of love and a life of faith. We thank God for our mothers and we shall lift up to God all the single mothers that they may be in the ever abiding strengthening presence of our Lord.“God could not be everywhere and therefore He made mothers.” It is well fitting to celebrate the unconditional and sacrificial love of mothers as the readings invite us to reflect on the commandment of love and friendship of Jesus. It is said that if Facebook would be a country it might be the eighth most populated nation in the world. Friends can be from any part of the world, contacts can be reached and messages can be communicated from the room to anywhere in the world. We may proudly say, “I have hundreds of friends”….but how many of them are personally known to me, how many of them are part of my life journey & how many of them have I seen them in person? They are acquaintances, they are network contacts and part of our contact list to chat, to share a message and exchange various thoughts and news, whether personal or general. We know the faces of Facebook friends, we know a little about them, yet we don’t know them personally. It is not about the number of friends, or images of friends and popularity of friends, rather it is about presence and personal joy of being there for one another. How many of us say proudly that ‘my mother is my first and Jesus is my best friend’? Thoughts and minds are shared and exchanged in Facebook, but never are our hearts. Jesus gives a huge surprise and unimaginable shock during His long farewell discourse to His disciples. While Jesus was explaining about commandment of love, suddenly He calls them Friends, and clarifies that He will not see them any more as servants, slaves or disciples. Why does He call them as Friends? And how is friendship better than discipleship? Before leaving the disciples and facing the Passion journey, He feels the need to explain His closeness with them. He knew that they need to be independent, so Jesus affirms once again His closeness with the Father and calls for the same closeness with disciples. Hear Jesus speaking to you, his chosen: ‘I was leading you from the front as Master, and taught you the minds and thoughts of Me and My Father. Now I express from heart our oneness…you are My friends, not servants or disciples. I walk beside you as you will go to the ends of this Earth.’ Yes, Friendship is having heart to heart connection, a connection and language of two hearts. Friends walk beside one another "Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend." ~ Albert Camus. This must be the thought of Jesus. Jesus also assures us of the great strength of Friendship. A friend is the one who accepts your past, understands you in the present, and trusts in your future. Jesus accepted the disciples as He chose and called them. He understood them fully before His Passion journey. This is why He gives this long farewell discourse. He trusts in their future because it is the future of the Kingdom and Mission, wherein He will walk beside them. John was the last one to write, almost at the end of the First Century. He lived long and was the last of the Apostles to die; he also died naturally, not through martyrdom. He repeated the words, “love one another” in his last years of love to the community. These words were the ones that remained in his memory until the end of his mortal life. His words of Jesus calling them friends are a response to the situation of that time. In the early century as the Christian community was growing and establishing its presence, believers repeatedly referred to themselves as slaves of God and slaves of Christ. The outside world called them as slaves of Christ. To be a Christian was to be a slave of Christ. The response of John is clear, that Jesus expresses His impartial and equal relationship, going beyond discipleship, expressing His disclosure of friendship. In the first reading, Peter at first refuses to accept and baptize the Roman centurion, Cornelius; however, when centurion falls at his feet, Peter lifts him and says, ‘you are neither servant nor slave, I am also like you a human being.’ We are friends of Christ. Then the gathered gentile community witnessed the baptism of Cornelius and his household. In the Old Testament, Moses, Joshua, and David were called servants, or slaves, of Yahweh; only Abraham was called a “friend of God.” Scripture references the manner in which Moses faced God as had conversation, like a friend: Ex33:11-12 “The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. Moses said to the LORD, you have said, 'You are my intimate friend,' and also, 'You have found favor with me.” 2 Chronicle20:7 Was it not you, our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend? Isaiah41:8 but you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend. We have many references to God as a mother, loving intimately. A mother’s language is the language of the heart; she walks besides her children at all times. “Mothers hold their children’s hand for a short while, but their hearts forever.” Monica is the best example in Church history who walked beside her son as a friend, holding him in her heart and lifting to God in thoughts for 18 years, though he was far away. On the day of the Baptism of Augustine by Bp. Ambrose, Monica said. ‘Augustine, "I do not know what there is left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled. All I wished for was that I might see you a Catholic and a child of Heaven. God granted me even more than this in making you despise earthly felicity and consecrate yourself to His service." She is the patroness of married women and is an example for Christian motherhood. The popular hymn speaks about the privileged friendship of Christ: What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God 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. Shall we experience and live with the friendship of Christ, Who walks besides us always? Shall we gratefully remember and live the faith, love and knowledge of heart, taught by our mothers? --Amen. 
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