The Friendship of Christ

"How to love an invisible God? For anyone who has asked themselves this question, Robert Hugh Benson weaves together the many strands of the Catholic faith to reveal the one thing needful-the radiant face of Christ. Here Benson unfolds the secret of the saints: that Christ is the truest of all friends, not metaphorically, but in reality. This book will not only help you to see and love God anew amid the world's maze, but will also give fresh joy and meaning to your earthly relationships."-Melinda Nielsen PhD, Associate Professor of Classical Literature, Baylor University

"As a convert from Protestantism, Benson was extremely sensitive to the religious dangers of a private devotional life cut off from the Church. The genius of Friendship of Christ is that it places before the reader the whole range of Christ's resources for fostering friendship with His disciples. Christ seeks friendship with every soul not just through a cultivated interior life, but also through His Church, the sacraments, other people, and the historical record of His life preserved in the Gospels. As Benson shows so movingly, wherever Christ is, there we may befriend Him."-Thomas Ward PhD, author Divine Ideas (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

MONSIGNOR ROBERT HUGH BENSON

Robert Hugh Benson (1871ÔÇô1914) was born just outside of London, the youngest son of Mary Sidgwick and Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 to his death in 1896. Benson studied at Eton and Trinity College in Cambridge and was ordained to the Anglican priesthood by his father in 1895. Benson decided to enter an Anglican religious order, the Community of the Resurrection, however, his attraction to Rome grew as he continued his studies and deepened friendships with Roman Catholics. In 1903, he was received into the Catholic Church. After nine months of study in Rome, he was ordained a Catholic priest. Benson was sent to Cambridge to write and serve as a priest chaplain to the Catholic community. Later, he was allowed to live on his own to devote himself to writing. A prolific author, he traveled extensively, writing and lecturing. Benson wrote many apologetic works, including The Religion of the Plain Man, Paradoxes of Catholicism, and Confessions of a Convert. He was also a bestselling novelist, writing The Holy Blissful Martyr Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Come Rack! Come Rope!, and The Necromancers. The dystopian novel Lord of the World is his best-known work.