Upon this Rock I Will Build My Friendships

I love the Catholic Church.

I just came home from a refreshing dinner with my Bible Study. Our group meets in the fall and spring, so I have been looking forward to this mid-summer reunion for months now and I’m still grinning even hours after we all parted. Every woman in this study is a Spiritual Powerhouse, full of wisdom from the Holy Spirit meant for the rest of us to hear and each has a contagious smile and genuine compassion. The age range is pretty expansive with the youngest at 23 and the oldest in her 70s; this I find enhances the blessing of being part of the group, rather than taking away from it, because we’re all at different stages in life with different gifts to offer. What strikes and delights me is how well we all get along and the overall joyful dynamic among us. Make no mistake, we all have our crosses and tears, but we’ve found strength and solace in one another’s company; or at least I have.

In a separate-yet-relevant situation, I just met a girl who has been a dear friend of mine for about a year and a half now. I heard about Erin Franco’s blog Humble Handmaid through a friend and visited her site to virtually introduce myself. After finding each other on Facebook and then keeping in touch on the phone, we finally spoke face to face this past Friday when she made a stop at my house on a Northern Louisiana Tour she was taking with her beautiful children. She is just as sweet and sincere as she seemed on the phone and our two toddler boys REALLY hit it off! (don’t let Liam’s apathetic expression fool you – he had a blast with his new friend) Though our time was brief and we had never conversed in person before, I felt immediately comfortable with her and totally at ease, as though we had been getting together for ages.

The point is that the foundation for my connections with these beautiful women is the Catholic Church. In spite of completely different walks of life among my Bible Study and with my friend Erin, I have found lasting bonds with each of them; bonds that involve our very souls meeting and moving each other to grow closer to Christ. Our mutual love of Catholicism is what weaves through our differences and lets us enjoy each other so much. Though I have eventually found that I have things other than faith in common with these women, our faith alone was enough to foster friendship and maintain it.

Erin and me with two of our little ones