I forgot to cross-link this here sooner because of the holidays. But I have a post I rather like over at Spiritual Friendship. A teaser:

It’s precisely the dearth of this physical intimacy within normal friendships that makes celibacy in the modern world so difficult. Man was made with a need for physical intimacy, but in our rather touch-phobic society, it’s difficult to meet that need outside of a romantic relationship…

If the church can express that sort of chaste love for all its members, then our deepest human desires can serve not simply to tempt us but to help us cleave all the more closely to the church. If Jesus let John share his bosom, then it seems we have a more than sufficient precedent to do the same.

Read the rest here: http://spiritualfriendship.org/2013/12/21/jesus-john-and-the-intimacy-of-physical-touch/