John 13:34-35 NIV

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 15:9-15 NIV

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

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Lord, we praise you for friends who share their lives and not just their gospel. We praise you for friends who offer tears and not just their answers. We praise you for friends who give life-giving wisdom and not just mess-fixing formulas.Father, our all-weather friends turn our hearts heavenward. They simply remind us that the foundation and fountain of all good friendship is found in the gospel. It’s overwhelming, settling and centering to hear Jesus say to us, “No longer do I call you servants … I have called you friends” 

from St. Patrick’s Breastplate prayer