I'm not Catholic. I have come to deeply respect my Catholic brothers and sisters--especially when then write on friendship. I discovered such a rich history in Catholic spirituality when I was researching for Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions.
This is not intended to be a long post. I want to share my great delight in finding another Catholic voice on the beauty and vision of communion and friendship for men and women who are not married to each other. The late philosopher, Dietrich Von Hildebrand. I did not know of him prior to the publication of SUSP.
Imagine my delight as I was reading his chapter on friendship between men and women who are not married to each other when he described that it is gloriously possible for them to experience "spiritual communion" in friendship.
Add another Catholic voice to those who believe in sacred unions! Love, deep love has a way of seeking union. A man and women who are not married to each other, may as friends, experience a "purely spiritual communion of singular depth, ardor, and purity, and particular completion, mutual understanding and enrichment." He adds, "Through this communion, Jesus (who said, 'Wherever two shall meet in my name, there I shall be also) is glorified."
It is rare to find such positive language of communion and friendship among evangelicals. It is typical for evangelicals to only focus on one relationship as a form of communion or oneness: marriage. Evangelicals tend not to see love and oneness in friendship as significant for spiritual and sexual formation.
Jesus prayed that we would all (including men and women who are not married to each other) be one.
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