How Many Friends Should I Have? I Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P.

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Religion &Amp; Spirituality, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau explores the nature, value, and varieties of friendship in Christian and philosophical tradition, highlighting the importance of cultivating friendships of pleasure, utility, and virtue for a fulfilling human and spiritual life.

This lecture was given on November 5th, 2023, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After several years of pastoral work in New York City, Fr. Guilbeau began doctoral studies in moral theology at the University of Fribourg, where he completed a dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the common good. Currently, Fr. Guilbeau serves as the University Chaplain and Vice President for Ministry and Mission at The Catholic University of America.

Keywords: Anaxagoras, Aristotle, Beatitude, Christian Friendship, Incarnation, Nicomachean Ethics, Saint Basil the Great, Saint Elred of Rivaux, Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Three Kinds of Friendship

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast.
0:05.0	Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square.
0:12.0	The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world.
0:18.0	To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at
0:21.6	to mystic institute.org. We started by talking about how it is that Christ himself introduces
0:28.2	friendship as a Christian mystery, as a reality of the Christian life, as a point of reflection
0:34.7	in Christian theology. It's also Christ, and we can point that sets us to talk about friendship in general,
0:44.3	not just friendship with God, which is the theme of our retreat,
0:48.3	but anytime we talk about friendship with God or the love of God,
0:52.3	because the command to love is double to love God
0:56.6	to love God to talk about friendship with God involves then how it is in charity we talk
1:03.5	about friendship with each other friendship with others and so that's what I'd like to
1:07.8	reflect on this morning.
1:11.6	And we just begin with maybe the sobering realization that friendship today is somewhat in trouble.
1:22.5	Friendship today is somewhat in trouble.
1:25.2	One of the ironies that mark modern life is this, although technology
1:32.8	has multiplied the ways for people to communicate, and although we have media now that defines
1:38.8	itself as social, more people report feeling alienated and isolated from others.
1:47.0	This wasn't supposed to happen, at least according to the media companies that have made communication easier.
1:56.0	These companies have poured billions of dollars into putting tools of communication into every office,
2:03.6	into every home, and indeed into every pocket.
2:08.6	It turns out, however, that multiplying, short, digital, and often anonymous communication
	...

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