Marriage or Friendship?
Gregory J. Mansour & Robert P. George on Defending Marriage & Not Confusing It with Other Things
No one should be against true friendship, whether friends are of the same sex or opposite sexes. Friendships are good, and they can be very deep and fulfilling. The ideal of friendship as a union of hearts and minds in which each one loves the other’s good as his or her own is beautifully exemplified in the friendship of David and Jonathan: “The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (1 Sam. 18:1).
Likewise, friendship was hardly absent from the life of our Lord. Jesus taught the value of ultimate sacrifice in terms of friendship (John 15:13); he wept over the death of his dear friend Lazarus (John 11:35); revealed his innermost self to his apostles in order to transform them from servants into friends (John 15:15); brought Peter, James, and John closer to him than the others (Matt. 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28); and was closest of all to the “beloved disciple,” who reclined on his chest at the last supper (John 13:23).
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more on marriage from the online archives
21.1—January/February 2008
John Chrysostom’s Discovery of the Blessings & Mysteries of Marriage by Mike Aquilina
24.1—January/February 2011
Marriage Thrives in Reality, Not in Our Dreams by Nathan Schlueter
more from the online archives
26.1—Jan/Feb 2013
The Alternate & Alternative Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft & C. S. Lewis by C. R. Wiley
29.3—May/June 2016
A Deathbed Reflection on Catholic Social Teaching & Our Future Prospects by Karl D. Stephan
32.2—March/April 2019
on Preserving Physical & Spiritual Nourishment by Nathanael Devlin
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