Spiritual Friendship: Learning to Be Friends with God and One Another

Chapter 1: The Definition and Origin of Spiritual Friendship (Book 1.1–30)

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in those many distant ages. 12 But if in our own age—that is, in the Christian era—friendship is so rare, then I think I am striving in vain to acquire a virtue which I confess I am already losing hope of attaining. I am so overwhelmed by its miraculous loftiness! 26. AELRED: “It is a great thing indeed to strive after great things,” as someone once said. 13 Thus it is the mark of a virtuous mind always to meditate upon lofty and difficult things, so that it either attains or more clearly understands and recognizes that which it desires: so we should not believe that a man has made but little progress when he has recognized virtue and learned from that how far he is from virtue. 27. However, the Christian ought never to despair of attaining any virtue, since his ears echo daily with that saying from the gospel, “Seek, and you will find,” and other sayings like it (Matt 7:7; John 16:24 ). So it is no wonder if among the Gentiles the followers of true virtue were rare, since they did not know the Lord who dispenses the virtues, of whom it is written, “The LORD of virtues, he is the King of glory” (Ps 24:10). 14 28. Truly, I do not talk of merely three or four pairs of friends, as the pagans do, but I set before you a thousand pairs of friends, who by faith in the Lord were ready to die one for another—in short, to do as a matter of course what the pagans said or imagined a great miracle in the

12 Cicero, On Friendship , 4.15. 13 Julianus Pomerius, The Contemplative Life , 1.Prol.2. 14 Aelred is reading from a Latin Vulgate translation of Ps 23:10, which in English is Ps 24:10.