Spiritual Friendship

Let this law, therefore, be held in respect among friends, namely, they expend themselves and

their goods for one another in such a way that he who gives preserves a cheerful aspect,

and that he who receives does not lose confidence. When Boaz observed the poverty

of Ruth, the Moabite, he spoke to her as she was gathering ears of corn behind his

reapers, consoled her and invited her to the table of his servants, and sparing in kindly

fashion her embarrassment, he ordered his reapers to leave ears of corn even

purposely so that she might collect them without shame. In the same way we ought

the more adroitly seek out the needs of our friends, anticipate their requests

by good services, and observe such demeanor in our giving that the recipient,

rather than the giver, appears to be bestowing the favor."

--Aelred of Rievaulx, "Spiritual Friendship" --

Aelred of Rievaulx was born in 1110 in Northumbria, UK. He became the

abbott of  the famed Cistercian Rievaulx Monastery in Yorkshire. His work on 

Spiritual Friendship is a classic. Rievaulx was dissolved by Henry the 8th

in the 1538. It's ruins still stand.

photo taken in Abergavenny, Wales