By Michael Pakaluk.

But first a note: Be sure to tune in tonight - Thursday, March 28, at 8 PM Eastern - to EWTN for a new episode of the Papal Posse on 'The World Over.' TCT Editor-in-Chief Robert Royal and contributor Fr. Gerald E. Murray will join host Raymond Arroyo to discuss Pope Francis' health, ongoing controveries about the handling of financial and sexual scandals in the Church, reactions of bishops to political changes in America, as well as other issues in the global Church. Check your local listings for the channel in your area. Shows are usually available shortly after first airing on the EWTN YouTube channel.

Now for today's column...

One way to tell whether one person knows another well, is whether he is familiar with what that other person likes and does not like. Aristotle said it was a mark of friendship to like and dislike the same things. Maybe those who do, can spend more time together, with less conflict. At very least, to know what someone likes is a test of friendship. Country music or classical? Fast cars or punting on a lazy river? Ethnic food or mac n' cheese?

Therefore, if we are friends with Jesus, we should have an idea of what He likes and dislikes. I mean, in His human nature - those likes and dislikes which have the character of tastes, or visceral reactions. Jesus loved mercy and hated sin, of course. Did He react viscerally to sin, in His human nature? Presumably so. And yet perhaps, even here, He did so more viscerally to some sins than to others.

He had to have had likes and dislikes, like all of us, if He assumed a genuine human nature.

When we think of such things, we often begin with food. Let's start there. Do we know anything about the food He liked? Newman said that He preferred simplicity. After the Resurrection, on the shore, when Peter and His friends were in the boat fishing, He could have prepared for Himself, by His infinite might, any meal that He wished. It was an Easter meal, after all. You or I might have chosen filet mignon and fine wine. Yet Jesus roasted one small fish and some bread over a charcoal fire. (Jn 21:9)

On the other hand, He had a taste for fine wine, "thou hast kept the good wine until now." (Jn 2:10) And with magnanimity, He recognized the place for it, in abundance, at the celebration of a wedding.

In clothing He seemed to despise luxury, "But what did you go out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings." (Mt. 11:8) And yet He loved good workmanship, because He wore next to himself an exquisite garment, so well-wrought that even coarse soldiers declined to tear it. (Jn 19:23)

He must have liked to walk. Hundreds of miles of journeys on foot are attributed to Him in the Gospels. He clearly loved being outdoors, for days on end. From His teachings, we know he loved nature, flowers, birds, fish in the sea, the seasons, the sky. He liked climbing mountains. He liked the solitude and quiet of nature.

His earthly father, Joseph, picked where He was to grow up. But in doing so, Joseph was only following the Lord's own providence. It was Jesus who selected the place of His own childhood. What did He like? Not a city, but a small village on a lake, remote from any city, a full two days' journey from Jerusalem. The lake is beautiful and self-contained, a place that a small boy can easily view as his home.

He loved going through life with family and relatives. He could have told them to stay behind but, clearly, He invited them to follow Him around. He liked hospitality; His was an open household. We think of His instructions to the Apostles, "You find them something to eat," in the face of the 5,000 and 4,000, as a special test of their faith. But what if He was merely saying what He usually said when many guests would be joining them for dinner?

In politics, He expressed no liking for democracy, when He might have. His own government was a mixture of monarchy (Peter), aristocracy (the Apos...