Friends on Earth and Friends Above (part 5 of 5)

FRIENDS ON EARTH and FRIENDS ABOVE…. this our hymn of thankful praise!

Life is hard, so they say. Our pilgrimage in this valley of tears is laden with trials and sufferings. But we help one another, not just in our temporal necessities, but most of all, in getting to Heaven.

Thus we have the gift of friendships, one of the joys of life, for God willed that we assist one another by prayer, example, and loving service– towards holiness.

St. Thomas Aquinas says that friendship is based on unselfish love for another person, that is, the constant and effective desire to do good to another. It is not necessarily emotional or
romantic, but benevolent, wishing well for the friend, or willing the good of the beloved, and acting on that goodwill as called for in concrete situations. Thus in a general sense we can be friends to all. In fact Spouses should be the best of friends, helping each other to Heaven; siblings, too, as well as parents to children. We also have examples of virtuous friendships
among Saints, e.g, St. Francis and St. Clare, Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazanzien. This is the mark of friendship, helping each other toward the good, ultimately, to Heaven. St. Gregory believes that loving and healthy friendships are God's gift to us; they make us better people. They also help make our sufferings bearable.

We have all the more reason to rejoice, for we have Friends in Heaven who do WILL our good. We may not know them personally but we can call on them, develop a relationship with them, honoring them, looking up to imitate them as they imitated Christ, asking for their intercession. They can and do hear us because they now share in the glory of God. They are in eternity, outside time, so that they can hear even a hundred or more people calling on them simultaneously. And they are desirous to aid us to Heaven. “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth” (St. Therese of Lisieux). “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.” (St Dominic, dying, to his brothers).

There is a patron saint for every need (kind of a specialty). For example, we call on St. Anthony for lost things, to St. Blaise for throat issues, to St. Padre Pio for any healing, to St. Jude in desperate situations, and so on. It's a shame to know many things about the so-called ‘celebrities’ but know very little about the real heroes, the Saints– our models.

Here below, the strength of our intercession for one another depends on our holiness, purity of intention, intensity of our charity, and the difficulty of what we offer to intercede for others. That is why we can merit graces for others in their need, as well as merit the grace of conversion for sinners.

We should therefore realize that the Saints are now confirmed in holiness, share in the Love of God for us, and surely WILL and DESIRE our good, and with their manifold merits are more able to powerfully intercede for us. We need only to call on them. This is the beauty of our Catholic Faith. God wills that we be saved not in isolation, but as a people (a family), all three branches of the Church (Communion of Saints) aiding one another. We help and pray for one another here on earth. We pray for the souls in Purgatory. And the Saints in heaven intercede for us.

And so let us not hesitate to call on the Saints, ask for their intercession, get to know their life.This does not conflict or take away from our worship of God. For God is honored when we
honor His masterpieces. Our Lady, Queen of all Saints, is honored when we honor her friends. We need all the help we can get, as well as help one another by prayer, example, and concrete acts of loving service, all towards reaching Heaven. We are never alone. We are never insecure as to seek solace in worldly fleeting joys.

And let us be genuine friends to one another. It all begins with BENEVOLENCE, that genuine concern for the good of another, again not necessarily emotional or romantic. Let us also strive for holiness to strengthen our intercession.

It doesn't matter if we don't have too many friends in social media. The Saints in heaven will promptly respond to our ‘invite’ in the spiritual media–open to all. We have a community, a family, in the supernatural world, with God as our Father, Jesus our Divine Brother, the Holy Ghost as our Gentle Guest within, the Soul of our soul, Mary our Mother, and the Angels and the Saints as our Friends. It will be a folly to not take advantage of this beautiful network of relationships in our spiritual life.