Leaning into Love
Fr. Tony’s Letter to the
Trinitarians
January 2019
“God is Love
and the person who lives in love
lives in God and God lives in that person.
It is in this way that our love has reached perfection.
As a result we are open and confident on Judgment Day
because already in this world we are like Christ.
Love has no room for fear;
Rather, perfect love drives out fear,
for fear involves punishment.
Love has not reached perfection in one who is still afraid.
But as for us, we love because He loved us first.” (1 John 4:16-19)
I have been struck over recent weeks
at just how much love members of the Parish show for each other and to their
neighbors in the larger community: so much care and good, done quietly and
unobtrusively, never ostentatious. I was
worried about one parish member and tried several days to visit, afraid that
health challenges and isolation were preventing proper self care and maybe
preventing the person from getting to their midnight shift work. I visited several times, only to have no one
reply to my knocks. When I finally
connected, I learned that another parishioner had been driving the person to
and from work each night and morning. Such mutual care is not rare, but rather
the rule here at loving Trinity. The
parish has stepped up to help support the every night of the week homeless
shelter, soon to be housed in a single location on East Main Street.
Yet many of us are burdened as well
by fears for ourselves and those we love: devastating health challenges and
death—sudden or lingering—are not rare in our aging demographic. Some are weighed down by the grim arc of our
national political and social life, and by the homelessness and untreated
mental illness we see on the streets of our quaint and lovely little town. Most of us mourn, in one way or another.
One of the great spiritual truths we
learn from Christ is not worrying about things over which we have no control:
blessed are the hungry, those that mourn, the poor. If we focus our emotional energies and our efforts
on the things we can control, if we do what we are able to do, then at least
our conscience is clear that we have done what we can. A peace results in our hearts, even if our
efforts seem to bear little fruit.
“The person who lives in love lives in
God. In this way our love is
perfected. Perfect love drives out
fear.”
Serving others as we are able,
helping and sustaining them, and even just praying for them and being with
them—this is the way we can overcome fear and look forward in joy. The point is not beating up on ourselves
and having expectations for ourselves that are not sustainable or even
healthy. The point is doing what we
authentically can, no matter how little it may seem. The point is loving, just loving.
Thus fear is driven away, and we
come to know the joy of Christ.
Grace and peace.
Fr. Tony+
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