Homily for the Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

In the list of things that we value most in our lives, close relationships with family and friends would probably be near the top of the list, along with health and life itself. Relationships and friendships are priceless, and without them, we could hardly get through life.

In a privileged moment, Jesus revealed the most important relationship in His life: His relationship with His heavenly Father. He spoke in terms of a mutual knowing, “nobody knows the Son except the Father, and nobody knows the Father except the Son.” There is a profound and unique intimacy to this relationship, but it is not a closed circle.

All of us receive an invitation into this bond of trust and love between Jesus and the Father. He reveals and shares the Father with us. They seek to draw us all into their mutual relationship. Our Psalm response says that God will not abandon us; the Father and the Son bring us into their shared love so that we can reflect that love to others. In response, our spirits must be receptive as a child, rather than closed with the self-assurance of the learned.+