“Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure.
Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their worth.”
Recently, a friend introduced me as his “best friend.” Initially I was taken aback by this declaration, but then I reflected that, since sharing a locker frosh year of high school, and, despite dispersing across the continent, we had visited annually, vacationed as families, stood up at each other’s weddings, and God-parented each other’s offspring. Over the decades we had “sat at each other’s tables,” shared happy times and “times of trouble.” and candidly discussed careers, retirement, and health. As Sirach prescribes, we were to each other “life saving medicine.” This personal friendship has been a “sturdy shelter.”
That introduction caused me to reflect, how about my friendship with Jesus? Do I share important decisions and concerns with Jesus, as I do with my lifelong friend? As Lent approaches, I resolve to work on my friendship with Jesus, to find the spiritual treasure lurking there, one that is beyond price.
―George P. Sullivan, Jr. is a Jesuit-educated lay leader who helped found the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, Chicago Chapter. He and his wife, Dorothy Turek, live in Wilmette IL, and have four children and four grandchildren.