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January 13

Friendship

Relationships lie at the very heart of what it means to be

human. And to have companions on the journey is the extra gift that makes life rich and meaningful.

That our Western emphasis on autonomous individualism has left many people isolated and bewildered should not surprise us. Despite this, the hunger for relationships, friendships, and community continues unabated.

To have friends, therefore, is a great gift. And while God can be one’s most special friend and one’s spouse can fill that role, other friends are also needed.

Friendship can’t be demanded, it can only grow. Friendship can’t be manufactured, it can only come as a gift. Thus, friendship is so often the great surprise. But this surprising gift needs careful nurture through

presence, attentiveness, availability, and care. Friendship can die as easily as it can spring into being.

St. Aelred of Rievaulx, drawing on St. Augustine, writes that friendship means “to converse and jest together, with good-will to honor one another, to read together, to discuss matters together, together to trifle and together to be in earnest; to differ at times without ill-humour.”13

Such a friendship, which includes fun as well as sharing the journey of faith, can be a sacrament of the friendship of God with us and can be a sign of what a good world should be like—a world of companionship rather than one of isolation and competition.

Reflection

Those with companions on the journey can be the builders of a newer

tomorrow, for in the gift of solidarity lies the hope of creating a better world.