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To Manfred, Chris and Pam: The great Roman Orator Cicero tells in his treatise "On Friendship" that if a person is able to go up to the celestial world, witness all the grandeur and beauty over there, and when he comes back [to the earhly world], he is in a most dismal position if he has no one to share what he has seen/experienced. He continues to say that nature itself abhors loneliness. Cicero makes a seminal point with regard to friendship. He says, “Make up your minds to this: VIRTUE (without which friendship is impossible) is first; but next to it, and to it alone, the greatest of all things is Friendship.” There are several insights which can be gleaned from the above: -1- Observe the statment of Jesus at the last supper, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (Jn. 15:11–14). Now you observe the statement of Aristotle, "In loving a friend, men love what is good for themselves; for the good man in becoming a friend becomes a good to his friend each, then, both loves what is good for himself, and makes an equal return in goodwill and in pleasantness.” (Nichomachean Ethics VIII, 5). St. Thomas builds on this and offers us:- men become good by pursuing virtue and becoming virtuous. therefore the more virtuous a man is, the more he/she becomes “a good” to his/her friends. This also means that the more virtuous a man is, the more lovable he/she is. And as such, we may say that the basis of true friendship is virtue and the virtuous life. The above mentioned statement of Jesus at the last supper perfectly is in tune with what Aristotle and St. Thomas proposed. In fact much more, the truest friendship occurs when we love the virtue in our friend and become virtuous ourselves; then our friend’s joy is in our virtue. When we love Jesus and seek to imitate His life, we come to realize that He is our true joy, and that His joy is in us. Christ is our truest friend and constant companion and that every perfect friendship draws us closer to Him, who completes our joy. And now, The relationship between Christ and the Church is on similar lines... the affinity and friendship between Christ and the CHurch is most virtuous primarily because Christ Loved the human race and gave HImself up for the world as a ransom, and the Church emanates from that great sacrifice and act of Love... not only that, and now the Church as it has been since 2000 years, continues to exist only for HIS SAKE to make Him [the most virtuous] known, His love and constantly direct the world towards Him so as to conform the entire creation like that Most VIRTUOUS person, the 'Perfect Man'. The Church takes upon this 'journey' with LOVE to make its bridegroom known despite tribulations, hardships, mockery and even martyrdom. So their relationship is truest in a two-way process. -2- And now, the members who are in the Church are constantly challenged by that 'truest relationship' that exists between herself [Church] and her bridegroom [Christ]. And when the members of the CHurch love VIRTUE and follow it, they participate in that relationship that exists between Christ and the Church, and not only that... every perfect friendship draws us closer to HIM who alone can complete our joy. The fullness of TRUTH, which is the property of the Church emanating from its Virtuous relationship with its Lord and Master... continues to challenge both those within the Church and those 'outside' as well. While the former [those within the Church] have received hope through Faith, the latter [those outside the Church] should not prefer to grope in darkness ... but the 'tragedy' is both the former and the latter are constantly challenged to conform themselves to that most perfect friendship between Christ and His Church. And as Christ pointed out that the life here on earth is beautiful except for sin and that eventually prepares us for a life eternal, and so the 'struggle' does not end once a member enters into the Church. - prasad