Fostering Friendship with Jesus

The Church has many prayer traditions that can help with fostering a greater love and devotion to Our Lord, and these can be beneficial for a lot of people and can potentially lead to conversion. Like any other friendship, fostering a friendship with God will take time on your part. We must always keep in mind that God has been calling for us to reach out to Him in every moment of our existence. He wants us to reach out to Him when life becomes unbearable, to thank Him for His many blessings. Like other relationships in our lives, fostering friendship with God will take time, it won’t happen overnight. Gradually little by little this friendship with Jesus will begin to take root.

Friendships can be a stepping stone towards a better life, fostering deep meaningful friendships is what we are made for. As human beings we are made for connection, and the greatest connection we can have is our connection with God. There is nothing quite like experiencing a closeness with God. Although we may not always be able to feel His presence through consolation, as Catholics, there is a deep understanding that Our Lord is always there. Like a loving father and a close friend, the Lord wants to be there for us when we are feeling discouraged and conversely wants to celebrate with us when we achieve something with the help of His grace.

At the core of every good friendship is an element of trust, and without this trust, it can be very difficult for the friendship to continue. Let’s be honest, why would anyone want to be friends with someone they can’t trust? God wants us to know that He can be trusted. He may not always do things in the way that we think is best, but He’s always doing what’s best for us even if we don’t see things in the same way. Another key element to fostering a deeper friendship with God is learning to conform our will to His will. A lot of us are attached to doing things our own way or even going against what God wants us to do at the moment (myself included). Simply ask for the grace to be able to desire what Our Lord desires, and He will gladly answer your prayer.

In order to overcome our tendency towards relying on ourselves apart from God, we should ask ourselves “what would God want me to do in this situation” and then we should ask for the grace to follow through on whatever that happens to be. Over time, coming to Our Lord in time of trial and difficulty becomes easier. In order to do this, we must let go of our self-centered ego, surrender that to God, and reach out to Him for help.

Every friendship starts with a decision, a decision to reach out and connect with another person. All we have to do is reach out and say “hello” and let Him do the rest. As time goes you will begin to become more vulnerable with God. Let’s remember that every encounter we have with someone can potentially be a life-changing experience, and every life-changing experience starts with one simple decision, a decision to take action. What’s it going to be? Will you take the time to let God take you on the adventure of a lifetime and change your life for the better? Take the leap and say hello!

The article was written by: Br. Athanasius Mary of the Knights of the Holy Eucharist