Open the Doors

The church is the house of God.
How long is this going to continue?
When will the doors be open?
Why can’t we celebrate?
I need communion.
I need to be in touch. I can’t keep going if I’m always shut out.
Social distancing doesn’t mean no contact or relations, just not unwittingly harming one another.
For God’s sake, I need to find peace and joy, pardon and love. That’s why I go to church!

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Co 3:16).
How long is this going to continue?
When will your doors be opened?
Why can’t we celebrate?
I need communion.
I need to be in touch. I can’t keep going if I’m always shut out.
Social distancing doesn’t mean no contact or relations, just not unwittingly harming one another.
For God’s sake, I need to find peace and joy, pardon and love. That’s why I go to you!

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (Jn 13:34)
That means that I must do my very best to love all those with whom I am in communication.
That means that I must strive to love all those who relate to me.
That means that I must try to love all those whose lives cross the path of mine.
That means that I must be open to loving all those who seek to enter my life.
I wonder if the new commandment implies that as we have loved one another, so God will love us? (I hope not!)

It’s prudent right now that we should avoid large assemblies, including ones in church.
We don’t want to endanger the lives of others by unknowingly infecting them with something that can harm. And, we don’t want to be endangered by others who unknowingly may infect us with something that can harm.
But, for God’s sake, it’s not prudent at all — it even goes against all that we aspire to be and do, not to mention the commandment of the Lord — to avoid contact with and shut out of our lives all those who come to us in want and need.
I can live with the church doors shut, but I can’t live with the doors of your heart shut.
For God’s sake, I can’t live without peace and joy, pardon and love. That’s why I go to you!

“When the Son of Man comes . . . he will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Mt 25: 31, 34-40).

10 May 2020

(Available in
Spanish translation)

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