Let's Be Friends

This week's National Catholic Reporter has an article that caught my eye -- about the Buddhist and Christian communities exploring how their differences can create solidarity among faiths. More specifically, it reports on a seventh international gathering of the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies.

It's all fascinating, and inspiring. My favorite part of the story is at the end.

A disciple once told the Buddha that he suspected friendship was half of the spiritual life. Correcting the young monk, the Buddha told him it was the whole of spiritual life.

In that spirit, Laurence Freeman. one of the conference speakers shared a most encouraging word.

He encouraged the audience to work at discovering a global spirituality, in which different spiritual practices make up the spokes of a wheel and meet at its hub. “After that experience of unity,” he said, “comes something of immense importance for the modern world, which is friendship between religions.”

Here's to friendship!