I find myself continually drawn to the refrain from today’s Psalm: “Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.” Let us pause in gratitude for the miracle of being invited into the intimacy of a friendship with the Source of all, the Creator of the universe and of each of us.

This day, my great prayer is that each one of us may experience ourselves, like Nathaniel in today’s Gospel, as truly seen by Jesus and drawn ever more deeply into authentic friendship with Him. May this friendship continue to free and form us; may it transform us ever more completely into the fullness of God’s dream that we were created to realize, fashioning us more and more completely as harbingers of the goodness and glory of God’s kin-dom.

Let us pray in the words of Joseph Tetlow, SJ:

Lord Jesus, from the start
You invite ordinary people to come to where you live.
When they come, you welcome them
and call them to labor and rejoice with you.
You are the most beautiful among men,
and I hardly believe you want me for your friend.
You are powerful, Lord.
Draw me more and more into your friendship
and lead me along the way you took with friends.
Amen.