We should Have Leaned This In Kindergarten

First reading
Ecclesiasticus 6:5-17 ©

A faithful friend is a sure shelter

A kindly turn of speech multiplies a man’s friends,

  and a courteous way of speaking invites many a friendly reply.

Let your acquaintances be many,

  but your advisers one in a thousand.

If you want to make a friend, take him on trial,

  and be in no hurry to trust him;

for one kind of friend is only so when it suits him

  but will not stand by you in your day of trouble.

Another kind of friend will fall out with you

  and to your dismay make the quarrel public,

and a third kind of friend will share your table,

  but not stand by you in your day of trouble:

when you are doing well he will be your second self,

  ordering your servants about;

but if ever you are brought low he will turn against you

  and will hide himself from you.

Keep well clear of your enemies,

  and be wary of your friends.

A faithful friend is a sure shelter,

  whoever finds one has found a rare treasure.

A faithful friend is something beyond price,

  there is no measuring his worth.

A faithful friend is the elixir of life,

  and those who fear the Lord will find one.

Whoever fears the Lord makes true friends,

  for as a man is, so is his friend.

Ecclesiasticus, the writer who brought you "Vanity all is vanity" is at it again.  Today he brings us genuine wisdom on friends and friendship.  There is not much I can comment on because it really is good advice.  He tells us ways to make more friends and it is something that we have lost in America today.  The polarization between people of differing opinion and the breakdown in the ability to listen to one another is alarming.  We should take to heart all the words of Ecclesiasticus today but really work hard on the first tip that he shares and treat each other to kind words and a spirit that remembers that even those of differing opinion are our brothers and sisters.  How will we go through eternity standing next to them if we do not have the love that one brother or sister owes to another for them?  Be gentle today in your speech and in your writing and display the charisms that an ambassador of Christ has ready to use to convince the world.