“I will not call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends; because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father I have made known to you. You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you, and have appointed you that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain” (John 15, 15, 16).
First Prelude: Remain at the feet of Jesus, in union with the Apostles, and with profoundest reverence gather the proofs of love that He bestows upon His devoted ones.
Second Prelude: O my beloved Saviour, let me realize what I must do to enjoy the happiness of Thy special friendship.
First Point: Jesus calls us friends. What happiness to be called a friend of Jesus, and to be such in truth! This happiness is ours; Jesus wills to be our friend, to associate with us as a friend with his friend; He wills to communicate to us, confidentially, the mysteries that His Father commissioned Him to reveal. Would we share this privilege and secure it for ourselves we must contemplate the divine mysteries in their application to our lives. What then are the conditions of the special friendship of Jesus? He Himself tells us: “You are my friend if you do the things that I command you.” For us, who wish to be among His favored, most intimate and best friends, it will not suffice merely to observe the commandments, which are of obligation for salvation. He secretly reveals to us the special precepts of His love, and unfolds to us His heart’s desires, when He urges us to avoid the least infidelity, to correct our imperfections, to practice virtue, in short, to please Him in all things. Such is the burning, magnanimous love He expects of His true friends. Such is the love that manifests itself particularly when there is question of sharing the sufferings of the friend. If a friend desires only to rejoice with his friend, but refuses to suffer for him, his friendship is not sincere. How ungrateful were not one who should hesitate to requite, at least with little sacrifices, the greater and more painful ones made for him, even if his friend besought him! Would he further dare to presume upon the love of his friend? I do not lack opportunities to prove my love to Jesus daily, even hourly. Have I not frequently ignored them, perhaps, even resisted His pressing petitions for a proof of my friendship? Can He call me friend in the presence of His holy angels?
Second Point: God has called us to His service by a special grace. “Not you have chosen Me,” said our Lord to His disciples, “but I have chosen you.” Perhaps when we left the world to consecrate ourselves to God in the religious state, we foolishly imagined that we were rendering God a great service and doing much to promote His honor. But has not even a brief stay in the house of God made it clear to us that by entering religion we conferred the greatest benefit upon ourselves? Oh, happy realization that the call to religious life is an inestimable grace! “I have chosen you,” Jesus says to His Apostles and also to us. I have drawn you after Me, have given you the strength to overcome obstacles, to make every sacrifice; I have overwhelmed you with graces, that you may continue My work. I have chosen you for My special service. Now you, in turn, should testify to the world that the religion I have founded is a law of love, that My yoke is sweet and My burden light. Are we fully penetrated with the dignity of our vocation and do we strive to prove our gratitude by persevering fidelity? Daily new proofs of the love of God force themselves upon us in support of the greatness of our election! Could we still be so blind as to believe that we have given God anything of value when we exchanged the perishable goods of this world for the inexpressible happiness of being a Spouse of Christ? Oh, that daily, even hourly, our gratitude were commensurate with the incalculable benefit of our sublime vocation, a gift wholly undeserved! Let us strive diligently ever to strengthen and increase in us the graces, the enlightenments, the consolations and comforts that are ours through the goodness of God. Let us labor to achieve fruits of salvation and perfection that we may not prove unworthy of our election; for not the call to the religious state secures us life everlasting but our fidelity in co-operating with God’s grace. Let us beg the Apostles, who corresponded so faithfully to their sublime calling, to support us with their powerful intercession, that we, too, may walk worthy of our exalted vocation, for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Has not my conduct frequently been unworthy of my holy state? Instead of bringing forth fruits of virtue, have I, perhaps, been guilty of bad example by my lack of charity and zeal?
Affections: Divine Saviour, how can I thank Thee adequately for having deigned to call me to Thy divine friendship! How often have I rendered myself wholly unworthy of such an inestimable grace by lack of charity and fidelity, by negligence and tepidity! Pardon, O my beloved Saviour, for this ingratitude! Henceforth, I will prefer Thy friendship to all else, and seek my rest, my consolation and all my happiness for time and for eternity, in Thee, alone.
Resolution: To render myself more worthy of the grace of my election I will perform my daily duties with renewed fervor.
Spiritual Bouquet: “Not you have chosen Me, but I have chosen you.”
Prayer: Take, O Lord . . .
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