I Have Called You Friends
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
John 15:15
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.
Grace Prayed For
Lord, let us receive the friendship you offer — not casuallly, but with the wonder it deserves — and let it transform how we pray, how we live, and how we love.
Reflection
Friendship with God. In the ancient world, this was a startling claim. The gods were distant, powerful, capricious, demanding. The relationship of humans to divinity was typically one of appeasement — keeping them satisfied enough not to harm you. Even in Israel, the covenant language was often that of Lord and servant, King and subject, Master and slave.
And then Jesus says: I call you friends.
The basis of this friendship is not our worthiness but his disclosure. ‘I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.’ A friend shares what a servant is not trusted to know. Jesus has shared with his disciples the inner logic of the mission, the depth of the Father’s love, the meaning of what is about to happen — as much as they can bear and as much as language allows. He has made them insiders to the great story rather than merely instruments of it.
Friendship with God does not eliminate reverence. It does not flatten the infinite distance between Creator and creature. But it transforms the character of the relationship from fearful compliance to something genuinely mutual — a participation in the divine life, a sharing of purposes and confidences.
For those of us whose prayer life has felt more like a duty than a conversation, this verse is an invitation to recalibrate. How would you pray differently if you genuinely understood yourself to be talking with a friend — one who has shared his deepest concerns with you and is interested in your deepest concerns in return?
You have been chosen, Jesus says just two verses later. Chosen and appointed to go and bear fruit. But first: you are known and called friend. Let that land.
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Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post