Dear Parishioners,

This year has been designated as the Year of Prayer by Pope Francis. The Pope is highlighting the importance of prayer in our life. St Teresa of Avila said: “For mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.” Prayer is that special time with God, one-to-one with Him. Prayer is the gift of listening to God and speaking with God.

When we read His Word, we enter into His world, His mind, His heart. This is an amazing gift and every day we can discover something new that God is inviting us to experience. This Sunday’s readings have a particular invitation to know Him more deeply and the kind of relationship that He invites us to have with Him.

The main message of the reading from Acts of Apostles shows us that the message of God’s love and salvation brought to us by Jesus is for everyone; God does not have favourites, no one is excluded from Him. Peter is in Cornelius’ house; Cornelius is from non-faith background in God but now he believes in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to everyone without exception. Peter, because of his Jewish faith and customs, previously would not have even entered his house, but he receives a vision that confirms, Cornelius too is embraced by God’s love.   

John in his letter and in his gospel, expresses a very deep understanding of who God is: God is love. We have heard this so many times: ‘God is Love’, but we need to stop and reflect what does that mean for me?  One way that John expresses the meaning in today’s gospel, is that Jesus calls us “friends” not “servants”. A friend is very different from a servant. A ‘servant-master’ relationship is very impersonal, and perhaps distant, a functional relationship of doing a job and being paid for it, a relationship of superior and inferior. A friendship is completely different; a friendship is personal and close, a friendship is freely given, based on love, trust, understanding, listening-expressing. It is amazing that Jesus calls us friends. He asks us to remain in Him, to live in this friendship. Living in this friendship, ‘remaining in his Love’ is the way our lives will be fruitful with a fruitfulness that comes from God, a fruitfulness that will last.

How was John’s prayer that he wrote so clearly about friendship? How is my prayer? My understanding of God? How was John’s understanding of God that he was able to express Jesus’ commandment as “to love one another”? There is an invitation here to discover more the friendship that Jesus invites us to.

Hopefully this year we can go deeper in our exercise of Prayer and we can grow in our relationship with Them.

Have a lovely week ahead,

Anabel Gonzalez, FMVD