We all long for deeper connections, and Father Dave welcomes Jason Simon to discuss cultivating friendship and faith in his new book, “Mission-Ready Friendship: A Blueprint for Deeper Relationships and Life-Changing Faith.” Jason is president of The Evangelical Catholic, a lay movement that seeks to build up the body of Christ through authentic relationships.
Jason describes the mission for The Evangelical Catholic. “[We saw that] most Catholics, even if they had really strong relationships with God and really strong relationships with the Church, didn’t know how to bring that to the world in everyday relationships and conversation,” he says. “We’re dedicated to helping parishes and campus ministries equip their laypeople to share about Jesus at the right time, right place, and in the right way through friendships.”
He shares how he grew up Protestant but converted to Catholicism in part because of a meaningful connection who reached out to him in a season of darkness. “He just met me where I was at in the world, took me out to lunch, [and] talked to me about my faith,” Jason shares. We developed a deep friendship; I let him in, and he walked me out of darkness into the light of Jesus.”
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“We let our friends into spaces in our lives that we don’t let anyone else in,” he continues. “I share stories in the book about friends of mine who had been parishioners at Catholic churches for years and had never even told their priest some of their struggles and areas of darkness because they were too embarrassed, even in the confessional.”
Jason says, “There is amazing potential to help friends open up about their deepest struggles beyond the facades, so that we can bring the good news of Jesus right to those places. That’s why I think it’s urgent, because I think the world is waiting for deep friendships so they can be authentic with somebody.”
He offers three ways for becoming a better friend: be more invested, more curious, and more empathetic. “All it would take is to ask a few questions to pry a little deeper. Not to make people feel uncomfortable, but just to ask questions like: How are things going at home? How are your kids doing? Where do you and your family find the greatest joy?”
Jason says, “It’s just caring for people. It’s giving people an opportunity to talk at a deeper level about their life if they want, and you’re not forcing them to. You can tell when someone doesn’t want to go there, and they can back off and just be happy talking about the weather and football. But if you ask those questions, and they do answer honestly, it’s amazing what God can do in those conversations.”
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Jason reflects on how Jesus approached friendship. He says, “In a lot of the book, I spend time meditating and thinking about how Jesus would have actually had deep friendships with his disciples, which is a really edifying experience for me; I think that it gives Jesus’ life a texture.”
“We don’t think about Jesus actually wanting to discover new things about his disciples,” Jason continues, noting that we can be blinded by his divinity. “Jesus asked them deep questions that were respectful of where they were willing to go. It’s beautiful to picture him walking along the seashore, asking them questions about their previous lives and professions, their childhoods and what that was like – just to just to think of Jesus connecting at that relational level with people.”