St. Scholastica

St. Gregory the Great writes: One day she came as usual, and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell, they had supper together.

Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late. The holy nun said to her brother: “Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life.” “Sister,” he replied, “what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my monastery.”

When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. “May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?” cried Benedict. “Well,” she answered, “I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So, it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life.

St Francis de Sales, in the book every Catholic should read, the Introduction to the Devout Life says

Those who want to grow closer to God need spiritual friendships which encourages them to virtue.

So let’s live out that example and foster the spiritual friendships that encourage us to virtue.