Frederick Buechner’s Godric teaches us that friendship depends upon a trust that we are each building toward each other, willing to yield, to listen, to reach each other. By Joshua Rio-Ross

Animals can provide valuable companionship for humans—but can we actually call them our friends? By Drea Jenkins

Aristotle’s treatise on friendship begins with excellence, but it does so in order to encourage the great-souled pursuit of love paired with the belief that we ourselves might be loved in all of our particularity. By M.M. Townsend

A serial host reflects on the small burdens and overwhelming joys of opening her home and table to friends. By Ali Kjergaard

The poetry of both Gerard Manley Hopkins and Dunstan Thompson is inextricably linked with the role that friendship played in each of their lives. By Casie Dodd

While family may seem like the single most important thing in modern life, the shared vision of true friendships should not be lightly put aside. By Jack Franicevich

Just as Virgil prompts Dante to consider the horrors of the human condition, we too need people, wise and trusted friends who can point out the shadows that populate our inner lives. By Ryan Diaz

A poem memorized in common becomes part of a life together. By Chelsea Wagenaar

Jones’s epic poem brings both time and eternity to bear on his homeland of Wales, and on our transitory lives. By J.C. Scharl

A young poet learns to speak with God. By Juan Carlos López