Loyalty and generosity

True friends are not two-faced. Vir duplex animo inconstans est in omnibus viis suis (Jas 1:8); a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, but loyal, sincere friendship demands self-renunciation and truthfulness, unselfishly helping and serving each other in lawful things. Friendships are strong and sincere when, with supernatural prudence, people think generously about their friends, at the cost of personal sacrifice.

Friendship establishes a climate of trust

We expect our friends to respond to the relationship of trust that is set up in a true friendship. We expect them to recognize us for what we are, and, when necessary, to defend us clearly and unambiguously. As I read in a Spanish work some time ago, “When a person defends or praises his friends half-heartedly, he is testifying and proving beyond doubt that he cannot find anything to praise or any grounds for defending them. Because if he could, would he be so little enthusiastic as he is in defending and celebrating them?”

You may say to me that friends sometimes betray you. However, if you always act uprightly and with supernatural sense, you cannot be worried or discouraged by those unexpected disappointments. Nor should such things, which will be the exception to the rule, reduce your effective desire to feel unselfish, clean, affectionate friendship towards everyone.