In this episode, we conclude our book study on Friendship in the Lord and welcome Fr. John Burns, Founder of Friends of the Bridegroom, to the podcast. We reflect on our deep longing to be known and loved and the ways fear can cause us to cling to others or settle for lesser goods. We talk about hoping for the possibility of beautiful friendship, even when our own experience has been marked by loneliness, disappointment, or suffering. We also discuss the beauty of celibate friendship as a witness to the primacy of God’s love, the role of feedback in relationships, and how the limitations we encounter in friendship ultimately reveal the deeper truth that we were made for God.

In this episode, we continue our book study on Friendship in the Lord and reflect on the gift of friendship as a foretaste of heaven and a living image of God’s love. We talk about how we are meant to journey through life with each other, how God bonds us together along the way, and how these friendships are meant to last forever. We also discuss the gift of praising God for our friends, what it means to behold and not possess beauty, and how focusing on gratitude allows us to hold joy and sorrow in tension.

In this episode, we continue our book study on Friendship in the Lord and discuss how friendship with others leads us into deeper intimacy with God. We talk about our longing for both human and divine communion, how healthy friendships free us from self-preoccupation, and why learning to receive feedback is essential to our growth. We also reflect on how unmet desires in friendship are signs of our longing for the Trinity and the importance of releasing lesser goods so that we can be free to receive God’s greater gifts.

In this episode, we continue our book study on Friendship in the Lord and reflect on how loving appreciation and reconciliation are the places where friendship matures. We talk about why healthy adult friendships draw us closer to the Lord, how the unique gifts of women and men reveal different facets of God's love, and how learning to behold another's beauty without trying to grasp or possess it calls forth our true identity. We also discuss the importance of recognizing how we've hurt others, expressing sincere sorrow, and allowing others to do the same. As we bring our wounds, suffering, and sin into the love of Christ, we discover that the very places we fear most can become the biggest places of resurrection.

In this episode, we continue our book study on Friendship in the Lord and reflect on the ways God invites us to grow through the relationships He has entrusted to us. We talk about the importance of rightly ordered love, why true friendship always draws our gaze toward Christ, and the beauty of virtuous friendships between men and women. We also talk honestly about the fears, wounds, and misunderstandings that can arise in friendship, and the importance of repair in deepening a friendship. Friendship is not about finding someone to complete us, but about walking together toward holiness while helping one another become who God created us to be.

In this episode, we continue our book study on Friendship in the Lord and reflect on what it means to be truly known, deeply loved, and fully at home with another. We talk about why we must first learn to abide in the love of God, how appreciation helps others become who they were created to be, and what it looks like to grow in friendship over time. Whether friendship feels life-giving or challenging in this season of your life, we invite you to bring every desire, wound, and longing before the Lord, who first calls you His friend.

In this episode, we begin our summer book study on Friendship in the Lord by Fr. Paul Hinnebusch, OP. We focus on the foreword and prologue and reflect on the difference between prudence and fear, the ways we self-protect in relationships, and our longing for authentic communion. We also talk about what it means to love without possessing, how to receive others as a gift, and why friendship is a foretaste of heaven.