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| THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Image from googledrive.com via google.com |
Many of us perhaps belong to at least one faith community, religious organization, sodality, or other Church groups. In 1989, it was something that I thought about when I first encountered the Holy Friendship: starting a new faith community in accordance with the Spirit of the Holy Friendship. But then I entered the seminary and although there was still that stirring about the Holy Friendship, the focus then was about responding to the vocation to the priesthood.
Many things happened in between then and now: I was not able to pursue the priesthood because of the lack of vocation, becoming a youth minister for about four years, getting married and having at present two sons, etc. But when I decided to give time to the Holy Friendship during the Holy Week of 2010, it was through the Internet that I saw an opportunity to share this inspiration as it could reach a wider audience and diverse cultures, backgrounds and mentalities. The present Society of the Holy Friendship was born through a Facebook Page. In this Year of Faith it is our active response to the challenge and call of our previous Pope, Benedict XVI, to use the Internet for Evangelization.
With this development, I guess the movement of the Spirit is for now far from merely starting a new group or organization but more about building relationships, the inspiration is about the sharing and living of love for one another and among each community - whatever is the current spirituality or spiritual movement that each of us follows or promotes. Meaning, the Holy Friendship will be an inspiration within inspirations, so that these original inspirations may effectively move its adherents in the Spirit of deeper Christian love, unity and mutual service.
So the Mission of the Society Holy Friendship is to promote love for one another through the "washing of each other's feet" in order for others to know that we are the Lord's followers and friends. No matter what spirituality or spiritual movement one follows and promotes, no matter what level of commitment or consecration one has in the Church and in the world, no matter what state of life one belongs to, the Holy Friendship can help in developing a closer relationship with God and neighbor. We have various focuses of our mission but the underlying spirit of them all is the fulfillment of the Lord's command to love one another in the same manner that He loved us: selflessly serving, saving and sanctifying.
We therefore do not really seek to have our own physical organization unless perhaps for the sake of assuring the sustenance of this online ministry which ought to have its counterpart actual ministry in our particular spheres of life. For it would be hypocrisy to be ministering online and yet actually indifferent. In this regard, I do invite those interested in such endeavor to join our online Group with the same name, Society of the Holy Friendship Prayer Warriors and we could move on from there.
This is our way of responding to the Lord's command to go to the ends of the earth to proclaim His salvation and love and to make disciples - and friends - of all nations that they may become members of His body, the Church, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit with the assurance of His abiding presence [see Matthew 28: 19-20].
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