It always benefits me to revisit passages in anything penned by C.S. Lewis. One of my favorites is his timeless work, The Four Loves. The sources and objects of affection, friendship, eros and charity are explained with striking clarity and brilliance. Lewis' section on friendship enlightened me greatly when I first came upon it and returning to his observations is a task I dutifully and gladly take up from time to time. That friendship exists not only between persons, both human and angelic, but between man and God Himself is something to ponder. Lewis traces the divine origins and destiny of true friendship in the passage that follows:
True friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can say, as the blessed souls in Dante, "Here comes one who will augment our loves." For in this "to love is not to take away." ... we possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases. In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious "nearness by resemblance" to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying "Holy, Holy, Holy" to one another (Isaiah VI, 3.) The more we share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have. -C.S. Lewis
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