Dear Folks,

This is hard. If Christianity is easy for you, you’re doing it wrong. We are called to help others, and we do not ask if they are worthy of help, but rather we ask what is the most helpful.

We must never forget that having good intentions does not guarantee good actions. We may intend to do good but ultimately do harm instead. Deciding to love our neighbors, including the people we most dislike, is just the first step.

We need union with God to transform us into people who can overcome our sinfulness to love God and others. We know that in Christianity love is not a feeling, but a decision to seek the good of the other. This means understanding what is truly good. We are not the best measure of what is good for us. An alcoholic may believe that the most loving thing for someone to do is give him an endless supply of liquor, but that would not serve his flourishing. His perception is distorted by his addiction. We, because of our sinfulness, have a distorted notion of good, and so we need God’s teaching to help us understand true human flourishing. This connects everything. The Christian understanding of the human person, marriage, sexuality, family, the meaning of work, the meaning of human dignity and human rights, and other issues all connect to the command to love one another. That is why love requires we continue to learn more about our faith.

A number of issues can make loving one another very difficult and controversial. Forgiveness is not an optional part of Christianity, but in the words of C. S. Lewis, “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.” Forgiveness is a form of healing, and that takes time.

We must have boundaries, or we will not be able to help for long. Many learn this the hard way. That will often mean refusing to enable bad behavior, even though that can get us accused of being hateful. Loving enough to tell the truth can have the same response. If people are enjoying regular sin, it is not loving to say that sin is not sin.

Self (and other) defense, just war, and law enforcement sometimes require force and even violence. We surround these issues with strict requirements, but there continues to be challenges.

We have the challenge of stewarding limited resources. If I think of a billion people in need, and I give each one of them a billionth of my resources (if it were even possible), that would not be terribly helpful. How do we best respond?

Liturgy needs to be done in a way that best presents the mysteries at work, and not necessarily the way people prefer or are used to.

We need as much of God’s help as we can get to respond to this call.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim