A Friendship Like No Other: Experiencing God's Amazing Embrace

I love the Jesuit teachings and wanted to read this as a lay person who has not done the spiritual exercises. I loved the new perspectives I gained through little insights and encouragement to see Jesus truly as someone who desires my friendship. It has opened my eyes to His role in every person's life and had helped me grow closer to Him and other people.

Fr. Barry’s final work is a beautiful invitation to enter more deeply into prayer, by way of a friendship with God. He explains the fears and misapprehensions of embarking on this relationship, but ever the spiritual director, he invites the reader to move from fear to trust and friendship with the source of our being.

The concept of God as unknowable, unreachable and distant is at the heart of how many view God. How can I hope to have anything to do with God.? William Barry in this small volume turns the question upside down. What does God want of me? The author's answer is that God only wants one thing, to relate closely to each human being, in short to form a close friendship.Barry points out that for many this will require a fundamental reshaping of their imagination of who God is. Barry leads the reader on this quest with a simple practical approach showing that forming a friendship with God involves the same dynamics as forming a friendship with anyone else. In language that is simple and direct the author shows God reacting with humans in the Scriptures and inviting them to friendship in ways that are familiar to all of us, with special attention, with caring and with humor. To help the reader overcome obstacles to this call to friendship the author makes use of personal mediations and examples drawn from daily life as well as from history.Barry is not afraid to address the tough questions like the problem of evil, the presence of personal tragedies and global calamities like Katrina. The constant thrust of the book is that God did not create man to live in fear but in a mature friendship with him. The value of the book is that it provides one path to follow to achieve this.

I knew the book I ordered was used and in good condition. However, to my delight, it was so close to brand new that I would not have known it was used. It was in excellent condition. Thank you, Good Will!

It is easy to get lost or confused when trying to love God or feel loved by God. Religions provide so many rules. Father Barry gives us a simple metaphor, a loving relationship. He asks us to consider how much we live as if God is out to punish us; he urges us toward a new understanding of God and Jesus. The path to a closer relationship with God is the same as the path to a closer relationship with another person. In thinking this way, I can come up with all kinds of ways of loving God more and feeling more loved by God. This book is also a modern interpretation of the Ignatius Spiritual Exercises. Almost all 21st century Christians will find Ignatius's 16th century exercises daunting and altogether politically incorrect. Barry's exercises blend imagination and scripture reading in a most Ignatian way. Although specifically Christian in some chapters, the book is written in an open way to invite anyone who believes in God to build a closer relationship with their higher power.

This book reminds me of the hymn, "What a Friend We have in Jesus". I ordered it after reading the positive reviews on Amazon- what a good choice! I did not know about Fr. Barry before, but he is a wonderful spiritual writer and I was totally engaged from the first page. Our close friendship with others can give us a glimpse of how much God loves us and wants to draw us into a dear and loving relationship with the Divine. This book remains one of my favorites and I followed up by ordering ,"Here's My Heart,Here's My Hand" by the same author. As we talk to friends and our friendship deepens, a prayer life with Jesus draws us in and keeps our mind and hearts focused on the best gift of Love that this world can offer. For us, it can become life-changing. Thank you Fr. Barry, for showing us how we can develop that relationship. I definitely give this book a 5 star rating.

William Barry has an amazing ability to bring out the relational aspects of our union with God. In this book he allows the reader to bring themselves -- just as they are -- to God. He helps us discover how friendship with God is just like friendship with another person. So often we allow our relationship with God to be disconnected from the characteristics of a normal friendship... it becomes theological and he become distant. Barry helps the reader to draw close to God by helping us experiment with the natural process of friendship building. If you want to know God personally, relationally, authentically -- this book is for you.

I enjoyed this book because it was written like a friend talking to me. Let me know God meets us where we are in life. He does not condemn us but encourages us!

This book is passionate about God's love for us, and leaves us with no doubt whatsoever about that. God's meaning for our lives is written in such a down-to-earth way, and shows from deep within the writer, what God's embrace truly is. I thoroughly recommend this read for everyone who has any interest at all in their spiritual journey.

An excellent book, to help Christians draw closer to God:

loved it

William Barry's perspective on being a friend with Jesus changes the entire catechetical learning of relating to God. More often than not, the Roman Catholic taught perspective is that of a human being subject to God. God seems distant. With Barry, God is not distant; He/she is close and wants to spend time with us. In appropriating Barry's perspective, one learns to engage more deeply with God and in so doing appreciate God as closer to us than our very breath.

This is an excellent book for beginners or for advanced spirtual direction