We are called to FRIENDSHIP with Christ and to build FRIENDSHIPS in Christ with one another. FRIENDSHIP is a unique gift of love, support, and encouragement on the journey. In our lives, there is at times an emphasis in our family relationships or romantic relationships to the neglect of our connection with friends. This Friday, I invite us as a community to celebrate our FRIENDSHIPS God has blessed us with and the beautiful graces that our friends truly are to us.

There are joys that we experience in this world that are not PERMANENT. This makes us sad at times. Conversely, there are sufferings that we experience in this world that, thanks be to God are also not PERMANENT that helps us hold on to faith. I am grateful that the extreme heat we have experienced the last few weeks were not PERMANENT. Many things of the world whether good or bad remain imPERMANENT. This allows us to focus on the one thing that is PERMANENT, our God of love whose mercy and kindness endures forever. May we rely on our gracious God our solid rock and foundation who will remain PERMANENT in a world and a life that is not.