While St. Claude de la Colombiere is most well-known for his instrumental role in the promotion of the Sacred Heart devotion, he also possessed a profound spiritual life, putting an emphasis on deepening his friendship with Jesus Christ.
St. John Paul II highlighted this aspect of St. Claude de la Colombiere's life in the homily for his canonization.
It was through his meditation on the life of Jesus that St. Claude was drawn to develop an intimate friendship with him.
This expresses a simple, but profound spiritual truth. We can not love someone we do not know. The more we come to know who Jesus is through prayer and learn about him from the Bible, the more we can love him.
Through this familiarity, St. Claude became more and more attached in friendship with Jesus Christ.
Above all, St. Claude desired to be united to Jesus as closely as he could.
In reality, developing a friendship with Jesus is not as difficult as it may seem to us. If we are open to Jesus, praying to him on a daily basis and willing to learn more about him, our hearts will be drawn every closer to him.
