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Participating in the inner life of God through human relationships.
We all want true friends. But how many of us really know what friendship is, or where to find it? In these pages, philosopher John Cuddeback weaves together the timeless wisdom of Scripture, of the ancient Greeks, and the saints to map out the steep and beautiful path to man's greatest joy—true friendship. Following Aristotle's teachings on the unbreakable connection between happiness and virtuous living, Cuddeback sees friendship at the very center of the human drama. Although there are different kinds of friendship, the deepest kind can only be achieved through a life of virtue, and this is where the human person comes most fully alive. True Friendship offers simple yet rich advice on how to tap into this reality in our own lives. Such friendship demands much of us, but it gives us even more, as individuals and as a society. Both the Old and New Testaments place a premium on friendship. In the Christian vision, the philosophers' insights attain a broader supernatural perspective. Christ transforms human friendship and expands it. With help from the writings of Saints Thomas and Aelred, Cuddeback discovers what lies at the heart of the Christian life—the wondrous and unsurpassable reality of friendship with God in Jesus, the Divine Friend, who is at work in all our authentic friendships.
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"You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you." Thus to the apostles and to all mankind, our Lord points out the practical and only adequate way of enjoying in its fulness the blessed privilege of Friendship with Himself. We are to do what He commands us to do if we would be His friends. If we wish to abide with Him, we ought "also to walk, even as He walked;" to sacrifice ourselves in obedience to the Divine Will, even as He also sacrificed Himself to the least wish of His Father; to practice the virtues of a true Christian as exemplified in His life; in a word, to strive to be perfect as our "heavenly Father is perfect." Every step, therefore, that we take towards a full reproduction of the virtues of Christ in our lives, every increase in our courage and charity, for example, means a firmer and fuller state of friendship with the Great Exemplar of these virtues. But one barely begins to tread upon the way of the imitation of Christ when he realizes that every step he takes owes its efficacy to the very Model he is striving to imitate, and that all the thoughts and acts that go into the formation of virtue are prompted and sustained by the grace of God given him for this very purpose through the merits of Jesus Christ. In other words, his Friend is not only his Model, but also his sole support. Without Him he cannot take a step forward. He depends absolutely upon the infinite love of Jesus Christ. There must be a constant outpouring of this love upon him, else he is unable to make the least progress. It is here that we see clearly the existence of that foundation upon which friendship, in the full sense of the word, is based -intercourse between the two terms of the relationship, communication of friend with friend. Our Lord sends us His plenteous love, first to move us to act, and then to perfect the act itself and others that may follow. We, in return, offer Him our efforts of body and mind and will. There is, or should be, on our part, a continuous striving, a constant stream of effort going up to heaven, passing side by side, but in an opposite direction, with the ever-flowing current of divine love that pours downward, tirelessly seeking to penetrate and influence every minutest part of our beIng. Upon this intercourse is based our friendship with God, that mutual love of benevolence which leads a Perfect Being to diffuse His infinite goodness upon man, and impels us to add to His external glory by striving to save our own souls and the souls of others in so far as the opportunity is afforded us. In the days of the Old Dispensation, God had no permanent abiding place with man, in the sense that He possesses one now. From time to time, He appeared to His creatures under certain visible forms. It was thus that He had converse with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and Moses on Mount Sinai. But these Theophanies, as they are called, were rare. Brief and infrequent, however, as were these and other communications between God and man before the time of our Saviour, they entered into the life of the children of Israel, and helped to supply the stimulus required for the formation of the friendship which then existed between the Creator and His creatures.Then, in the fulness of time, came the Son of God in the flesh of man, and dwelt amongst us. And His visible habiting in the midst of men gave the most obvious opportunities for the perfecting of friendship with God that the world would ever witness. But those who embraced these opportunities were few. And when our Lord ascended into heaven, the vast majority of men had made not the slightest effort to enter into the relationship of friendship with their visible Saviour.
This unique and intensely personal memoir is about spirituality, not about religion,and it is alive with the raw energy of a journal and polisjed with the skill of the master storyteller.
Live in the love of a God who desires a relationship with you. Throughout A Friendship Like No Other, renowned spiritual director William A. Barry, SJ, explores the premise that God wants to relate to us as a close friend. Barry has contemplated this idea—radical for many Christians—throughout his lifetime, and he explains that it actually traces back to the “developing revelation of God contained in the Bible.” A Friendship Like No Other offers three well-supported and practical sections: prayerful exercises to help lead you to the conviction that God wants your friendship; a close look at objections to this idea; and reflections on experiencing the presence of God and discerning those experiences. Brief, personal meditations are woven throughout. Grounded in biblical tradition and with a clear focus on Ignatian spirituality, this book offers a fresh, heart-changing approach to living joyfully in the freedom of the divine embrace.
Excerpt from The Sacrament of Friendship You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. Thus to the apostles and to all mankind, our Lord points out the practical and only adequate way of enjoying in its fulness the blessed privilege of Friendship with Himself. We are to do what He commands us to do if we would be His friends. If we wish to abide with Him, we ought also to walk, even as He walked; to sacrifice ourselves in Obedience to the Divine Will, even as He also sacrificed Himself to the least wish of His Father; to practice the virtues of a true Christian as exemplified in His life; in a word, to strive to be perfect as our heavenly Father is per feet. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.