Pope Leo: "Jesus Calls Us to Be Friends; Let Us Not Leave This Call Unheeded”

Vatican, Jan 14, 2025: Highlighting the centrality of friendship with Christ in the life of faith, Pope Leo continued his catechesis on the Second Vatican Council during his weekly General Audience, focusing on “one of the most beautiful and important” documents of the Council, the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation.

Recalling Jesus’ words in the Gospel of St. John, the Pope said, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.” He underscored that the document invites all believers to enter into a personal friendship with Christ.

Pope Leo emphasised that Dei Verbum reminds us of a central truth of the Christian faith: 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.

The Pope also noted that while humans remain creatures, unequal to God, the coming of the Son in human flesh opens the covenant to its ultimate purpose. “In Jesus,” he said, “God makes us sons and daughters, and calls us to become like Him, albeit in our fragile humanity."

He stressed the importance of listening to the Divine Word, “so that the Divine Word may penetrate our minds and our hearts,” and of speaking with God, “not to communicate to Him what He already knows, but to reveal ourselves to ourselves."

Prayer, he explained, is essential for cultivating friendship with the Lord. This begins 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,” and continues in personal prayer, which happens “in the interiority of the heart and mind.” “Time dedicated to prayer, meditation, and reflection cannot be lacking in the Christian’s day and week,” he added.

Finally, the Pope warned that friendships can fail through neglect or rupture. “Jesus calls us to be friends,” he said. “Let us not leave this call unheeded.” By embracing this relationship, he affirmed, “we will discover that friendship with God is our salvation.”

Courtesy: Vatican News