“Life is not worth living if it is without friends.” This humane statement of the philosopher Aristotle applied particularly to St. Paul, who could not bear living alone without trusted company. St. Augustine too spent his life longing for good friends. His Confessions testify to the growth of friendship in him from mere camaraderie to a genuine love as found among pagans, and ultimately to the Christian and divine friendship out of charity.

If love is the very reason for friendship, then making friends is an essential component of human life, and their choice, good or bad, will define us since “a man is known by the company he keeps.” And the love of friends prompts us to have confidence, to be frank and to pray for each other. Indeed, in order to acquire our perfect stature as a social person, we must look for support and faithful counselors both for mind and soul who share our intimate struggles in life.

Hence, much of this issue of the Angelus deals with this capital topic, which today, like love, has been devaluated to mean everything and, worse, anything. From a married man’s view point of marriage as friendship to a Benedictine’s understanding of it, passing through a scientific analysis of adolescent issues, the traditional educator will find some tools on hand to capture the importance of and the need to channel the relationships of their subjects.

May this issue prompt all, young and not so young alike, to grow in friendship with souls grounded in a higher love, to quote again the Confessions: “Blessed is he who loves his friends in Thee.”

 

Fr. Jürgen Wegner

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