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

Afterword Congratulations on making it all the way through Aelred’s Spiritual Friendship . It is no small accomplishment to read a book that is over eight hundred years old. It is even a greater accomplishment to read it with a group of friends. I hope you and your friends have had many good conversations while discussing Aelred’s insights and recommendations about spiritual friendship. By way of conclusion, we can glean three big-picture takeaways from Aelred’s spiritual classic. (1) Spiritual friendship is an essential spiritual discipline if one wants to grow into spiritual maturity. (2) Stewardship of one’s soul requires prioritizing spiritual friendship. (3) We need to implement the practical steps Aelred

recommends if we hope to become the kind of person others want to be spiritual friends with and if we hope to develop eternal spiritual friendships with others.

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