BFF - Acknowledging Jesus

Everyone who acknowledges me before others

I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

But whoever denies me before others,

I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

There is a certain art to being a friend to someone and we do not really think of it as it comes naturally to us.  If you are a friend to someone you treat them is a different way than you treat a stranger.  The conversation between the two of you rapidly goes beyond the weather and you tend to open up to one another and share secrets and you reveal the inner self to one another.  A friend will take your side in matters that are important to the both of you.  He will also take your side when others begin to argue with you.  A friend will always be proud to be seen with you and to be with you.  So it is with Jesus.  There is no greater friend that we can have besides Jesus and He will stand with you through thick and thin.  What He asks of us is to for us to do the same.  It is one thing to profess a love for Jesus in the privacy of our bedroom at night when the lights are off and another when you are called on to defend a tenet of the faith that is counter-culture and unpopular with the masses.  It is in these instances that we have to prove our love for Jesus and to validate our friendship with Him by standing by Him and professing publicly His teachings no matter the cost. 

This will make you quite unpopular with the great masses of people who follow the culture of death and you will pay some heavy tolls but in the end, it will be worth it.  First of all, your example will change someone's mind.  You may not know it then but it happens.  Here is a true story that happened to Michael the Lesser.  One day a group of us were at a parish gathering, a workshop the subject of which escapes me.  The final event of the day was Mass.  The celebrant, after proclaiming the Gospel told us that he was opening the floor for commentary on the Gospel and He would follow up when everyone who wanted to share had done so with his brief homily.  Give Michael the Lesser a chance to talk and he will take it every time!  So, I shared a brief reflection and thought no more about it.  But to show you how powerful our testimony can be let me tell you that after Mass, a young lady came up to me and thanked me for what I had said.  I said, "You're welcome."  But she went on and said that up until that point she had been feeling hopeless and nothing that she had heard that day had helped and she had made the decision to end her life.  But because of what I said, she had reconsidered and would not do any harm to herself.  So, our testimony can have a great effect on those we may never even speak to personally. 

So, don't be afraid to lose a friend because it is much more important that you do not lose Jesus as a friend. 

Please pray for the poor souls in purgatory.  They really can use your help.