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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mercy. But if anyone should find what I have written to be redundant or useless, let him forgive my clumsiness, which forced me to hold back the flow of my thoughts in this meditation because of my engagement with other matters.

Start of the First Conversation and Introduction of the Friends: Aelred, Ivo, and Christ (1.1−4)

1. AELRED: Here we are, you and I, and I hope that Christ makes a third with us ( Matt 18:20 ). 4 No one can interrupt us now, no one can spoil our friendly conversation; no one’s voice or noise will break in upon this pleasant solitude of ours. So come now, dearest friend, reveal your heart and speak your mind. You have a friendly audience; say whatever you wish. And let us not be ungrateful for this time or for our opportunity and leisure. 2. For just now, when I was sitting among the crowd of monks, they were all chattering on every side, and one was asking questions and another was arguing, and others were posing problems about the Scriptures, about ethics, about virtues and vices. You alone were silent. Now and then you looked up as though you were ready to make a point for the rest of us, but just when the words seemed on the tip of your tongue, you looked down again and kept silent. Occasionally you withdrew a short distance from our group and then returned, with a sad expression on your face. From all this I can only conclude that you have 4 Aelred’s allusion to Matthew 18:20 emphasizes that Jesus promises to be present when two or three of his followers gather together. Aelred teaches us that an awareness of the presence of Jesus with two or more Christian friends is an important aspect of joyful, wise, and eternal friendship. “Here we are, you and I, and I hope that Christ makes a third with us.”