“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.”
Pope Leo XIV recalled Jesus’ words in the Gospel passage according to St. John during his Wednesday General Audience on January 14, as he continued his new catechesis series, which is dedicated to the Second Vatican Council and a rereading of its Documents.
READ POPE LEO’S FULL CATECHESIS HERE
Focusing on the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, on Divine Revelation, the Pope called it one of the most beautiful and important Documents of the Council.
The Holy Father noted that the text recalls Jesus’ invitation for us to be His friends.
“This is a fundamental point of Christian faith, which Dei Verbum reminds us of: Jesus Christ radically transforms man’s relationship with God, which is henceforth a relationship of friendship. Therefore, the only condition of the new covenant is love.”
God makes us sons and daughters
He acknowledged that we are not equal to God, and the relationship between God and humanity always remains asymmetrical, as we are only creatures of the Creator.
In spite of this, the Holy Father said, with the coming of the Son in human flesh, God’s Covenant opens up to His final purpose.
“In Jesus,” he said, “God makes us sons and daughters, and calls us to become like Him, albeit in our fragile humanity.”
With this in mind, Pope Leo reminded us of our need to listen, “so that the Divine Word may penetrate our minds and our hearts,” and also “to speak with God,” “not to communicate to Him what He already knows, but to reveal ourselves to ourselves.”
Must make time for prayer each day
This, he explained, is why prayer is so important for us to live and to cultivate friendship with the Lord. We do so first of all, he said, in liturgical and community prayer, “in which we do not decide what to hear from the Word of God, but it is He Himself who speaks to us through the Church.”
This liturgical prayer, he continued, is “achieved in personal prayer, which takes place in the interiority of the heart and mind.”
For these reasons, the Holy Father insisted, “time dedicated to prayer, meditation, and reflection cannot be lacking in the Christian’s day and week.”
Finally, Pope Leo XIV pointed out that we know from experience how friendships easily end through a ‘rupture’ or neglect.
“Jesus calls us to be friends,” he said. “Let us not leave this call unheeded.” By welcoming and caring for this relationship, the Holy Father insisted, “we will discover that friendship with God is our salvation.”
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