Encouragement

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The shortest verse found in the whole Bible describes the most loving heart of my friend. It is the most moving verse that we find in the Gospels expressed in the shortest form! “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) Yes, a true friend wept for his friend! Our friend weeps for his friends! Seeing him weeping, his bystanders were moved! They exclaimed, “See how much he loved him.”

A real friend

My friend is a real friend. A fiend in need is friend indeed. My friend is with me in all my needs. Thiruvalluvar, a saintly poet of South India who lived two years ago, has written that a true friend is always looking for the welfare of his friend with great love and he is ready to sacrifice everything, even the bones of his own body for the sake of his friend (Kural: 72). My friend Jesus is always with me caring my needs even if I forget him.

A friend united in me

He came down on earth to love me, to prove his great love, to suffer for me and to die for me. Jesus did not come among us as a detached superhuman observer of human affairs, with ready-made solutions for every problem, and unaffected by what was going around him. No, he loved; he loves. He laughed. He wept. He ate and drank. He suffered and endured. He prayed and preached. He worked and slept. He was fully human, like us in everything except sin. He lives in me in all true nature.

He was fully human

He was friendly with everyone he met. In Nazareth, he played with other boys when he was a boy. He attended synagogues in prayer and services. When he grew up, he had many young men as his friends. He worked with his father and made furniture. He sold them in markets. He attended repair works. Wherever he went he shared his loving heart and smiling face. When he set out to preach, he did not fail to look after his mom. Even at his death, he cared for his mom and requested John to look after her.

Sharing his loving heart with everyone

Those who were with him were not his mere disciples. He treated them not as a master, but as a friend. He expressed this thousands of times through his words and deeds. He walked into their homes, chatted with them and shared meals with them. His affection and closeness with the family of Maria, Martha and Lazarus at Bethany is just an example of his love towards every one of us. It is there that he wept for Lazarus! The same love he still maintains for every one of us.

A mad loving friend who is still among us!

He is a mad loving friend of all of us. Whether we love him or nor he is madly in love with us. He still loves us and lives among us through his Gospel and Eucharist. He is still in love with us; he loves us even if it hurts him badly.

His mad love made him a man!

It is His mad love that overflowed and created man. It is that mad love that moved eternity and said to time, “Begin”. It is the mad love that Omnipotence that moved and said to nothingness, “Be” It is that great love that created a being in His own image. It is still that mad love that is hovering over me and you waiting to attend our words!

Jesus wept

What a short sentence! Just a noun and a verb! But with unfathomable meaning! Jesus stood in the midst of the mourners in the scene of sorrow, hearing their cries of pain and loss, looking at the tears streaming down despondent faces and feeling the stench and ugliness of death that engulfed him like a noxious cloud. Unbearable to stand in that chilling scene, in the midst of weeping and sorrow, Jesus felt intense pain swirling around him and burst into weeping!
Though Jesus knew that, in a matter of minutes, he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:14), he was moved by his emotional love that made him weep. The dark scene of death and tears flowing from the eyes of his beloved friends broke his heart with painful feelings, forcing tears in his eyes.

Our friend still with us

Believe that Jesus is still our loving friend. He is sharing all our joys and sorrows. He is still waiting for our call and sharing with him. He smiles at our victories and weeps at our sorrows. Because he still loves us abundantly!

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