Slave to Friend

“I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15)

Jesus spoke these words to His apostles after the Last Supper, before He was arrested. This idea of ‘slave to friend’ is something that each of us can take to our own spiritual lives. 

At some point in our lives, many of us experience the feeling of being a “slave” to religion. Maybe in high school and college, you felt like the Catholic faith was just a list of do’s and don'ts that we follow purely out of obedience, or because we’re told to...much like a servant receiving his orders. We didn’t understand the “why” at the time. Maybe we still don’t fully grasp the “why,” and that’s okay.

It’s truly a blessing when we transform from a slave to a friend. We start to see God as Father, not just a master. We begin to see Christ as The Way, The Truth, and The Life — not just a way we’re told to live, but the only way to live life to the fullest, becoming who God created us to be. And, that is “the why.” 

This transition occurs by the grace of God. It’s something that we can (and should) pray for — the grace to follow Christ out of love, and see Him as our friend.