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

Chapter 3: The Advantages and Excellence of Spiritual Friendship (Book 2.1–27)

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best seasoning for food,” and neither honey nor anything else gives as much taste to wine as thirst does to mere water. 1 And so perhaps our conversation here will be like spiritual food or drink for you, more pleasant since the heat which brought it about was more severe. So come, reveal what made you anxious just now; don’t hesitate to speak freely.

A Friend’s Conversation Provides Rich Spiritual Food

The Rediscovery of Aelred’s Written Conversation with Ivo on Spiritual Friendship (2.4−7) 4. WALTER: I’ll do that. For if I wished to make excuses now because of the very brief time those men have left us, I would appear to make our remaining time even shorter.

1 Aelred is quoting a proverb from Xenophon (d. 354 BC), a famous Greek general and one of Socrates’ students.