October 17
The joys of friendship
hat can be more
pleasant than to be spiritually so closely united to another, so completely
one, that no arrogance is to be feared, no suspicion dreaded! Correction
of one another causes no pain, nor does praise bring a charge of flattery.
A friend, says the Wise Man, is the medicine of life. That is well said,
for no other medicine is as powerful and efficacious where temporal ills
are concerned as to have someone hastening to us with sympathy when anything
goes wrong and congratulating us when things go well. So, shoulder to shoulder,
the two bear each other's burdens, each one thinking that his own is lighter
than that of his friend. In this way friendship heightens the joys of prosperity
and mitigates the sorrows of adversity by dividing and sharing them.
In friendship are joined virtue and pleasure, truth and enjoyment, sweetness
and goodwill, feeling and doing, all of which take their beginning from
Christ, grow through Christ, and are perfected in Christ. It should not
therefore seem too hard or unnatural to ascend from Christ who fills us
with the love we have for our friend to Christ who gives himself to us
as a friend to be loved, so that pleasure follows upon pleasure, sweetness
upon sweetness, affection upon affection. And thus, friend cleaving to
friend in a Christian spirit becomes one with him in heart and soul, and
by the steps of love rises to friendship with Christ and becomes one spirit
with him.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman
Contact Webmaster
Last Modified: Wed Aug 21 02:34:46 GMT-05:00 2002
Privacy Statement
© Copyright 2005
Villanova University
