Do you ever wonder what it must have been like to make friends with a future saint?
Well believe it or not, many of the saints formed friendships with each other that led to deeper relationships with God.
For those of you that joined in our friendship novena, you probably learned about some of these incredible yet simply beautiful friendships the saints had with each other. Some of them became friends with younger saints like Dominic Savio and John Bosco, or started out as friends and then formed a deeper union through the sacrament of holy marriage, like Louis and Zelie Martin. Some even created a friendship through letter writing even though they only met twice in real life, servants of God Elizabeth Leseur and Soeur Marie Goby. No matter how they met though, one thing seems to be constant: they all had a burning desire to love and serve the Lord.
Which brings me to today’s current friendships, the ones that don’t seem to last or are hard to cultivate with secular society moving away from deep or sincere relationships. You see though it’s not entirely impossible to form faith-filled friendships today, it’s just harder, but again not impossible. We just need to take a step back, turn to the saints for holy models, and then implement their practices of friendship into our own. If they could form lasting friendships in their often difficult circumstances, than so can we if we just put the right effort and time into them.
Where do we start? With prayer of course! In every friendship I’ve read between saints, they always lifted their relationship to God first and encouraged each other in their faith journeys throughout life. A friend of mine once taught me that the friends who pray together, stay together no matter what hardships they may face. It may sound unheard of, but trust the saints who did it constantly and try it for yourself. Remember to pray not only with each other, but for each other as well!
Next, the saints always had a way of communicating with each other, wether it was through letter writing, in person meetings, or through God’s communication channels. This allowed them to share their hopes, dreams, struggles, difficulties, and most importantly their spiritual lives. Again faith plays a tremendous role here.
And lastly, the saints were always working on themselves and seeking opportunities to be humble servants for God and to each other. We can’t be sincere friends or God’s workers without first checking in on our interior lives.
We can still maintain worthwhile old friendships or grow beautiful new ones if we simply go back to the basics, pray, and take a hint from the truest best friends, The Saints.
~Nomie~
Well believe it or not, many of the saints formed friendships with each other that led to deeper relationships with God.
For those of you that joined in our friendship novena, you probably learned about some of these incredible yet simply beautiful friendships the saints had with each other. Some of them became friends with younger saints like Dominic Savio and John Bosco, or started out as friends and then formed a deeper union through the sacrament of holy marriage, like Louis and Zelie Martin. Some even created a friendship through letter writing even though they only met twice in real life, servants of God Elizabeth Leseur and Soeur Marie Goby. No matter how they met though, one thing seems to be constant: they all had a burning desire to love and serve the Lord.
Which brings me to today’s current friendships, the ones that don’t seem to last or are hard to cultivate with secular society moving away from deep or sincere relationships. You see though it’s not entirely impossible to form faith-filled friendships today, it’s just harder, but again not impossible. We just need to take a step back, turn to the saints for holy models, and then implement their practices of friendship into our own. If they could form lasting friendships in their often difficult circumstances, than so can we if we just put the right effort and time into them.
Where do we start? With prayer of course! In every friendship I’ve read between saints, they always lifted their relationship to God first and encouraged each other in their faith journeys throughout life. A friend of mine once taught me that the friends who pray together, stay together no matter what hardships they may face. It may sound unheard of, but trust the saints who did it constantly and try it for yourself. Remember to pray not only with each other, but for each other as well!
Next, the saints always had a way of communicating with each other, wether it was through letter writing, in person meetings, or through God’s communication channels. This allowed them to share their hopes, dreams, struggles, difficulties, and most importantly their spiritual lives. Again faith plays a tremendous role here.
And lastly, the saints were always working on themselves and seeking opportunities to be humble servants for God and to each other. We can’t be sincere friends or God’s workers without first checking in on our interior lives.
We can still maintain worthwhile old friendships or grow beautiful new ones if we simply go back to the basics, pray, and take a hint from the truest best friends, The Saints.
~Nomie~
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