Theme
Witnesses on friendship
Friendships that held a life of prayer upright: letters, companionships, long fidelities.
A few words
Whoever wants to win people over must stake the heart as a pledge.
All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.
Picture a circle whose centre is God, and whose radii are the lives of human beings. The closer they come to God, the closer they come to one another; and the closer they come to one another, the closer they come to God.
We ought to think of God even more often than we draw our breath.
You, vast people of the streets, you burn us with your spiritual thirst without knowing it.
My friend is not another person. My friend is my half, another I. So I have to regard my friend as myself.
All 34 witnesses on friendship
- Adolph Kolping Putting one's heart up as a pledge in order to win someone over.
- Aelred de Rievaulx Praying two together, and finding that there were not two.
- Agnès Phila Writing one's refusal calmly, without raising the voice, and signing it.
- Alexis Khomiakov Prayer understood as an act that is never solitary, and theology done by working hands.
- Angèle Merici Trusting God with the future, and persons more than rules.
- Benoît de Nursie “Some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Benedict made it a rule: every guest who arrives is received as Christ himself. We never welcome only the person we think we see, which is why hospitality is an act of faith before it is a courtesy.
- Boniface de Mayence Asking others to pray for you, and not keeping silent when one should speak.
- C. S. Lewis Faith regained through reason and friendship, and the prayer that dares raw truth before God.
- Columba Kang Wan-suk Organizational courage under mortal threat, refusal to betray others even under torture, leadership exercised fully as a laywoman when no other structure existed.
- Dominique Savio Holiness at a teenager's height; cheerfulness held to be part of the road.
- Dorothée de Gaza Concrete humility: drawing near to God by drawing near to others.
- Douceline de Digne Prayer held as the tie that holds everything else.
- Elisabeth Dirks Not paying for one's own safety with other people's lives.
- Emma Rooke The prayer of someone writing to another who has lost the same thing.
- Frans van der Lugt Staying when leaving would be reasonable, and refusing to the end to give hatred the last word.
- Grégoire de Nazianze Remembering God as one breathes: a prayer as continual as breath itself.
- Henri Suso Measure kept in speech, so the heart stays livable.
- John Coleridge Patteson Real affection for those one has come to serve, and work carried on without seeing its fruit.
- Katharina Schütz Zell Consoling by letter those one cannot reach.
- Lucian Tapiedi The faithfulness that will not save itself alone, but stays beside its own.
- Madeleine Delbrêl “You prepare a table before me… and my cup overflows.” Madeleine Delbrêl sought that overflow not in the desert, but in the middle of the city, among neighbors and ordinary tasks. Gratitude, for her, is recognizing that the table is already set, that everyday life itself is the place of grace.
- Marcel Callo The faith of an ordinary young man held to the end; the friendship of Christ tested in exhaustion.
- Margaret Fell An open house as a form of prayer, and speech claimed for those refused it.
- Martin Buber Prayer as encounter: to stand before God and before the other with one's whole being.
- Mary Dyer Going back where one is forbidden, for love of those who suffer there.
- Matteo Ricci The patient meeting of another culture, and friendship held as a path toward God.
- Olympias de Constantinople Standing with those we love when they fall; giving away without measure what was received.
- Pacôme le Grand Common life as a way to God: serving one's brothers rather than saving oneself alone.
- Philipp Jacob Spener Prayer given back into ordinary people's hands, at home.
- Philippe Néri Joy as a way to God: a holiness without pose, refusing to take itself seriously so as to take God seriously.
- Pier Giorgio Frassati Faith as an upward drive: friendship, mountains and charity pursued with the same ardor.
- Raïssa Maritain The demand for truth pushed to its limit, and hidden contemplation in the midst of a life of conversations.
- V. S. Azariah Faith that asks for friendship between equals, across borders and ranks.
- William Cowper Faith held by a man who cannot feel it, and friendship keeping alive what the darkness would put out.