One must have friendships in life
Father Paul Labutte was Mother Yvonne-Aimée’s beloved spiritual son and friend. He met her in 1927 when he was a 19 year old seminarian. Yvonne Beauvais was 26 years old at the time. Later, as an Augustinian Hospitaller Canoness and Superior, she wrote to Father Labutte freely about friendship and affection. Her point of view was fully human, wise, and mature. The translation is my own:
Francis de Sales and Jeanne de Chantal, Saint John Eudes and Marie des Vallées, Olier and Marie de Valence. Why? Because (even on the supernatural level) man and woman have qualities that complete one another.
One must have friendships in life. [ . . .] Let yourself love. There is no danger so long as the spirit of prayer exists in you. And young priests have hours of loneliness that are very hard. They need affection and tenderness. If you don’t give it to them, they will go looking for it just anywhere.
One loves the Good God without seeing Him. Also, at certain hours we need someone to show us affection: a mother, a sister, a brother. Otherwise, if the heart is not anchored, it goes anywhere at all, and is lost.
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Yes, so true, Father! I believe that religious need good holy friendships with people they can trust to support them, pray for their vocation is constantly being renewed in their heart! Spiritual Motherhood is a key factor, as I have been reading here. Just as the wrong person can come along to tempt, the right ones can be key, especially in times of loneliness, to point people back to Jesus through love, kindnesses, and prayers, prayers, prayers, for them! We see this in many Saints, holy love for each other….Thanks for your great writings, they really feed our souls! 🙂 Bless you!!