I just came back from an amazing retreat! The theme? True Friendship. We discovered what it meant to will the true well-being of another, even risking conflict, and to have that feeling be mutual between both individuals involved. Charity is something else though, it is when you love others as God loves you. I never fully realized the difference before. In order to actually have a friendship it has to be mutual, otherwise at best it is charity – which is an excellent virtue I hope to continue to foster – or at worst an unhealthy co-dependence. Sometimes you really want to be someone’s friend and it stinks when the feeling doesn’t seem to be reciprocated, you can move on or become obsessed with them from afar. But that’s not what I want to talk about; I want to talk about true friendship.
In my life I have been tremendously blessed with good friends. A couple of nights ago, a mom asked me, “Who’s your best friend?” I told her I didn’t have just one, to which she replied that I can only have one otherwise they’re not the best. In a way she has a point and I now realize I don’t have a best friend, but I do have a lot of true friends. Friends who are willing to tell me I’m wrong or willing to push me to grow in ways I may not always like. People willing to be honest with me. Friends loving me through my weaknesses and willing to listen with a loving heart when things aren’t “fine” or “good”, and who don’t accept those answers because they want to know how I’m really doing. I have 15 true friends. Whoa! That doesn’t even take into account family members and others who I consider mentors, or all the amazing friends I have had throughout my life that were there for just a season.
Really, if you don’t have true friendship, you’re not really being human. Our truest calling, what we are made for, is true friendship. God desires true friendship with each one of us! Marriage should be a true friendship – we were made for it. That is what you are saying “yes” to in striving for sainthood. You are saying “yes” to being a true friend to God and to mankind.
By Lety Sanchez, MissionCorps Member at The Magdalene House
The Elizabeth House MissionCorps Members 2013-2014
