Presentation of Synthesis: DIVINE FRIENDSHIP: A VOCATION TO LOVE 20 March 2019

John Quincy A Caballo SDB 2:30 – 3:00 PM

To be friend-zoned is perhaps one of the worst things that can happen to a young person: to be relegated
as a friend instead of becoming the one for the other. Friendship is often thought as an inferior way of relating
compared to being in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. It is often contrasted to blood-relations among siblings,
for example. We see in such a comparison the relegation of friendship as something below the ideal.

But friendship, if it were true, is a relationship rooted in a most supernatural reality: divine love. “I have
called you friends,” (John 15:15) Jesus said to His disciples. In Him, God calls humanity to a divine friendship,
a covenant-relationship of listening to His Word, following His commands, and loving one another as He did.
There is always something marvelous about friendship: it is a relationship that is deeply rooted in the heart. It is
a bond not bound by blood but from an even deeper source—a more spiritual and divine store, I would say. This
work aims at drawing from this spiritual well-spring to appreciate better how this reality that dares merely familial
or time-tested bonds could form a synthetic contemplation of God—a theological synthesis. Christ so much
exalted this relationship that to die for a friend, “No one has greater love than this...” (John 15:13).

Looking at the ideal of the religious life and the priesthood with the diaconal ministry as a means of
fulfilling this loving call of God to become His friend, we realize that there is a most likely lack of proper
understanding and appreciation of this great gift. The growing decrease of numbers among young people entering
the religious life and the priesthood is a glaring testimony to this. While current theology is bent on presenting
the common priesthood of the faithful, we ought to keep in mind and heart the fact that this radical calling of God
and a generous response of the one He calls are quite a practical and most noble expression of one’s love for God.
We hold this of course without prejudice to other forms of responding to God’s call as in the married life or in
single-blessedness. The scriptural theme in Mark of walking behind (Mk 1:20ff) not only entails a merely rabbinic
following of Jesus. Jesus is not just establishing a school where information about God is shared. This involves
sharing in the way and destiny of Christ who calls His disciples to be with Him. According to our current
understanding, this is practically incarnated in the vocation and life of the consecrated men and women.

With these key concepts in mind, this paper is divided into three chapters: Divine Friendship: A Covenant-
Gift [CHAPTER 1]; Listening to His Word [CHAPTER 2]; and Following His Command of Love [CHAPTER
3] to correspond to the various stages of discipleship.

CHAPTER 1 [Divine Friendship: A Covenant-Gift] begins by presenting the Old and the New Covenants
or Friendships that God established with man represented by key figures of each period. In the Old Testament,
we find Abraham, Moses, and the Prophets as witnesses and themselves representatives of the people who hope
to bring this covenant to fulfillment. The New Testament is ratified and sealed by God Himself in and through
the person of Christ: God does not only want to save them, He also wants them to be His friends and so share
eternal life with Him. The Priesthood and religious life are then seen in the light of God’s desire to forge with
man a divine friendship of listening to His word, following His command, and loving one another as he did.

CHAPTER 2 [Listening to His Word] is all about the instrumentality of the Church in perpetuating this
relationship with God. The Church is not only seen as an international organization but most especially a
community of friends of God who are united by and are docile to the Holy Spirit. This is made possible by listening
to the Word of God in Sacred Scriptures, Sacred Tradition handed to her (the Church) from one generation to
another, and in conformity with the Magisterium by which the Church interprets what has been received in
faithfulness to Christ and sensitive to the signs of the times. These principles guide the new moral vision which
is towards everlasting life that sees the fulfillment of moral norms and rules as an expression of devotion and
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genuine friendship with God. A sure way towards sharing eternal life with Him – the beatific vision of things to
come, rewarded to those who are faithful to Him.

CHAPTER 3 [Following His Command of Love] brings forward a renewed appreciation of Divine
Worship and Service of Charity as two sides of the same action of following the Lord’s commands. Sacred Liturgy
is understood as the source and climax of the Church’s work of education-evangelization and all other forms of
pastoral work. The work of the Church is prayer and overflows to works of evangelization and pastoral activities.
The reflection on Mary as the friend of God par excellence offers a fitting example of how one could truly be a
best friend of God in one’s every word, thought, and deed.

In summary, friendship with the Lord is an essential quality of a healthy spiritual life. Healthy familiarity
with the Lord balanced by unbridled openness and child-like docility are just some aspects of Divine Friendship
that renders one more capable of responding to His call to obedience and complete trust. This friendship is seen
in both the spiritually mature and for those who are just at the beginning of their spiritual journey. It is not about
who is more familiar or the years by which such a friendship has been proven true and faithful. Rather, the measure
of this friendship is that child-like attitude of total dependence and surrender. Even among the more spiritually
mature, the hurdle is found when one tries to wrestle with God over His Will against ours.

This friendship opens one up to embark in a quest of getting to know God more while one begins to
discover those nooks and crannies in one’s person often left undiscovered and overshadowed by more pressing
and immediate temporal concerns. In the Father, a believer will find a Provider who looks beyond one’s
imperfections if only to help one overcome them and reach their full potential—their vocation to life and holiness
in and for the world in view of bringing to fulfillment that Kingdom. In the Son, believers will find one like
themselves, with Whom we could relate and associate ourselves with, Who struggled and faced the reality of life
in the face yet remained free from the stain of sin—a true friend Who challenges and lifts us up in our struggles.
In the Holy Spirit, we encounter a true friend unparalleled: we find an advocate who is always by our side who
strengthens and defends us in our struggle yet remains at the background, a sure support in times of great need.

Divine Friendship brings the Church at the forefront of the present age to challenge the world to go beyond
virtual encounters and often disconnected relatedness, giving way to fragmentation and the divide that so marks
our present world. Christians are called to get out of their comfort zones to confront a people who hunger for food
in the midst of excluding abundance, who yearn for intimacy in the midst of an all-too-cramped-up metropolis,
who call for authenticity yet hide behind avatars and the propagation of fake news, who search for the divine
while excluding God in the public fora, who fight for the right of animals and the environment while calling for
the destruction of infants in the womb, who triumphs over inclusion yet tramples upon the truth and those who
herald it, who is wounded by the abuse of ministers who promised to stand in persona Christi.

In the perrenial paradox that marks our fallen world, we find a Christ breaking into the picture, who
clarifies exactly what the Lord God has to say and wishes for us to fulfill in order to become part of the Reign of
God. This Divine Friendship holds the key between fulfilling that call or keeping it a mere potential. Young
people are called to follow the Lord in a specifice way, a gift that is to be unravelled only by those who dare to
go through the often painful and rigorous process of self-discovery, acceptance, and integration.

And the way to go is to remain in the Lord, to listen to His commands, and to follow Him wherever He
goes, if only to bring to fulfillment in us His priestly prayer “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21). May the Church be
a true community of the friends of God gathered around the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and friend of God par-
excellence!