Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
In the gospel today, Jesus refers to the disciples as friends and reminds them that they did not choose him so much as he chose them. This gospel speaks of affection between Jesus and the apostles (and all who do the will of God). It also speaks of God choosing his disciples, which is to say, God initiated the relationship that they have. This gospel presents us with an opportunity to reflect on God taking the initiative with us.
Does God need us? In moments of feeling empowered as disciples, we might be inclined to say that God needs us (“God needs us to fulfill the mission of the Church”). But if we are being totally honest, no, God does not need us. We need God, which is to say that we depend on God and without God we cannot exist. God, however, does not need us. God exists from eternity and our existence does not add to his being. God does not at all require us - God does not need us.
God does not need us, and yet we nevertheless exist. Why, then, would God create us if he does not need us? “Perhaps God was compelled to create us?” We understand God as being all-powerful, so it does not make sense to say that God was compelled to create us. So if God did not need to create us and if God was not forced to create us, then we can safely conclude that God created us simply because he wanted to. In other words, we exist because God desired us.
There is something dignifying about accepting that you exist because God found you to be desirable. I don’t intend this to be a saccharine, flowery way of saying God loves you. I mean this coldly and soberly: if you did not exist, creation would be less complete, less good, and less glorious. If we trust in the wisdom, providence, and, quite frankly, the good taste of God, then we need to see ourselves as essential to the Divine plan of creation. That plan rests in God alone, the initiative was always with him. You are not the mere product of a chain of events that God started. God chose you from the beginning - and he chose you because he wanted you. And it is good to be wanted.