Moment With Betty

Francisco Fernandez Carvajal states, “Friendship creates strong bonds of trust and loyalty. It is a natural human relationship par excellence since it provides the conditions for free and reciprocal interactions” Given his deduction, we can say therefore that friendship is a close relationship between two or more people who care about and support each other. It is also said that faithful friends, often know us better than we know ourselves. They help us discern our gifts, weaknesses, and purpose and encourage or challenge us to act in a way we couldn’t on our own.  On a day–to–day basis, nothing gives me or most people as l imagine, a greater joy than faithful friendships. Friends who arrive when everyone else has left particularly, in your difficult moment. They are close especially in times of need and closest when the need is greatest. Trust me, if friendship is as described above, no one would want to live without a friend

Like in the spiritual life generally, friendships are very often difficult to navigate because the next step usually lies in the darkness of the unknown. But friends who know our hearts invite us to courageously step into the weakness and bring our darkness into light. They however support each other all the way, trust and respect one another. For Christians who try to live their faith fully, it becomes impossible for them to distinguish between being a true friend and being an apostle. Nonetheless, for one who is blessed to be a child of God in Christ, being a friend and being an apostle are simply ways of being oneself.

The term” apostolate of friendship “reminds me of some things l learned and experienced about friendship over these past decades. One of the biggest blessings in my life here is the amazing, ever-growing Christian community of families and friends. We celebrate together, eat together, grieve together, play together and with certain friends, we have the intimate joyful bond of praying together. Honestly, l feel so blessed to have this community. A community of friends who often share a common interest and experiences and enjoy spending time together and also find time to do apostolate together. Hence, thinking about friendship as an apostolate also put something else in my heart. I just wonder how motherhood can be without a strong community of friends around you.

For me, this is what the apostolate of friendship is all about. Having friends whom you enjoy close relationships with. People who care about you, support you, build trust with you, are honest, and have mutual respect. for each other.  People who are charitable and show each other love. Friends who would not hesitate to share the word of God with their friends so that they also can inherit Heaven after their journey on earth.

Apostolate is not something that is superimposed on friendship because truly speaking we are apostles by our baptism.  Therefore, friendship itself is apostolate; friendship is a dialogue in which we give and receive light as we dedicate ourselves to the propagation of our religion or doctrine. Consequently, we can say that friendship, apostolate and charity go hand in hand because as Saint Josemaria Escriva stated in (Friends of God- – pt. 230), charity is apostolate and apostolate done for love is friendship.