Genuine Friendship

The Foundation for All Personal Relationships,
Including Marriage and the Relationship with God

?Genuine friendship, and certainly marriage, is not fundamentallya matter of seeking a positive experience, but of committing oneself to a person and to the good that will come from the relationship.? -Msgr.Halfacre

Friendship is the foundation of all personal relationships,including marriage and our relationship with God. In all interpersonalrelationships-especially in the family-there is an environment or a culture. Ideally, we are to foster a culture of love–one where eachperson can truly experience acceptance, forgiveness, and being loved. Sustaining such relationships and fulfillingthe expectations that occur naturally requires real strength of character,especially to persevere through the years.

In Genuine Friendship, Monsignor Halfacrediscusses the qualities of true friendship and also includes the writings ofpopular saints and authors such as Aristotle, St. Augustine, and C.S.Lewis. Even those who relate well with others can see a need to improvefrom time to time. Genuine Friendship offers practicalsuggestions to further strengthen or repair our friendships.

?The author has done his work in a very competent and imaginative way. Ihave been studying relationships all my life, and I learned a number of thingsfrom this book. The underlying messageof the book is that we can indeed grow in the ability to relate well andcommunicate love. It is full of stories and examples that will inspire you todo just that.? –Fr. Benedict J.Groeschel, C.F.R.