It Aint Money, Honey!
Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle
Scripture Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Psalm 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; John 15:9-17
My dear encountered couples:
There’s a tendency to think that to have friends we must have money. That if we don’t have money to spend on others we will always be alone. Even some parents and grandparents seem to think their children and grandchildren won’t like them unless they are always buying them something.
Jesus had friends. I wonder how. He never seems to have had any money. Is there an account anywhere in the gospels about Jesus buying anybody anything?
There must have been something about Jesus that was very attractive. And I mean more than his looks. We all know good-looking people we don’t care to be around. It is the person, the personality of the person, the goodness in the person that counts.
Jesus must have had a lot of goodness in him. Goodness that was more valuable to people than money and what money could buy. It must have been Jesus himself who was more valuable than all the money in the world. That was it! And he shared himself with people. He gave them his time and attention. And finally, his life. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” he had said. And he proved his words in action. After his death even more people fell in love with him. And it wasn’t because they were left any money in his will.
It must not be money, then, that is necessary to have in order to make friends and be a friend. I wonder what it is. I know! It’s to have Christ! If we have Jesus Christ in us, we too might be able to attract friends. Let’s work on that.
