Being a Friend to What Is Good

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“Everyone may indeed be friendly to another, but he should be most friendly to what is good” (Arcana Coelestia 4804).

The Lord wants us to love our neighbors, in particular by being a friend to what is good in them. This involves looking for and supporting the good qualities we see in them. For what is good with a person is what is from the Lord within them.

Read about friendship

Ideas for discussion

  1. To act with charity is to think kindly of others, wish them well, and do good for their benefit. This is also a good description of genuine friendship.
  2. Since the Lord wants us to be “most friendly to what is good”, this is what He expects us to look for and support in other people. When we befriend what is good in another, we are nurturing what they are receiving from the Lord.
  3. We should distance ourselves from activities that do not seem good, but we are not to judge others. For no one but the Lord knows the true motivation of anyone.
  4. It is not angelic to search for the evils with a person unless one also looks for what is good (see Arcana Coelestia 10381).
  5. People who love the Lord observe what is good in another, and if they see anything evil and false, they excuse it, and if they can, try to amend it in him. But those who are selfish, see in the neighbor only what is evil. If they see anything good, they either perceive it as nothing or put a bad interpretation upon it (see Arcana Coelestia 1079)
  6. Do you think people tend to look more for the good or more for the flaws in others?
  7. What are some ways that we can try to support what is good with friends and family?

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