Here are a couple of excerpts from "Clowning In Rome" by Henri J.M. Neouwen that I liked, thought they pertained to ThunderLove, and just thought they were a good ideal. The book is a composition of a series of talks he gave to Religious and seminarians in Rome.
FRIENDSHIP
Friendship is very important to them, but they keep their relationship with each other in the context of their common call. As soon as the relationship itself becomes the center they are moving away from their vocation. They have to be willing to let new developments separate them from each other for certain periods of time, and they also have to be willing to see and experience their separations as an invitation to deepen their relationship with their Lord and through Him with each other. At the Eucharist they find each other as friends, there they strengthen their commitment to each other, and there they find the courage to follow their Lord even when He asks them to go in different directions. Thus their relationship is really a standing together around the alter. Together they want to protect the empty space [that is for God and God alone] in and between each other.
MARRIAGE
Marriage is not a lifelong attraction of two individuals to each other, but a call for two people to witness together to God's love. The basis of marriage is not mutual affection, or feelings, or emotions and passions the we associate with love, but a vocation, a being elected to build together a house for God in this world, to be like the 2 cherubs whose outstretched wings sheltered the Arc of the Covenant and created a space where Yahweh could be present. Marriage is a relationship in which a man and woman protect and nurture the inner sanctum within and between them and witness to that by the way in which they love each other...The Intimacy of marriage itself is an intimacy that is based on the common participation in a love greater than the love two people can offer each other. The real mystery of marriage is not that husband and wife love each other so much that they can find God in each other's lives, but that God loves them so much that they can discover each other more & more as living reminders of His divine presence. They are brought together, indeed, as 2 prayerful hands extended toward God and forming in this way a home for Him in this world.
I thought they were a really beautiful and solid way to look at friendship & marriage. I can't speak on the marriage side first hand, but Mandie gave her approval and thought I should share it with you married folks. Love you all!
