Mar. 2020, Week 5: Hositality & Service

by Soren and Ever Johnson

“Today, the world is threatened by a virus,” writes David Brooks in The Atlantic, comparing our current crisis to the bombing of London in World War II. The “story we tell has to be less about the evil we face and more about the solidarity we are building with one another. The story we tell has to be about how we took this disease and turned it into an occasion to become a better society.”

In months with a fifth eletter, we turn our focus to Level 5 of your Trinity House: Hospitality & Service. Traditional hospitality is cut off in this time of lockdown, so let’s focus on other creative ways of serving. With our own invisible “Blitz” threatening to turn April into the cruelest month yet of the Covid-19 crisis, now is a good time to reflect on how we can build solidarity in our communities.  

Behind us are the first frantic trips to the grocery store, when we glimpsed scarcity, fear, hoarding, and occasional fights over toilet paper. There was a time for all of that — an unsettling cultural moment we will likely never forget — but we cannot stay there. If we let this time be about every man for himself, our society will suffer much more than financial losses, unemployment and physical death.

It’s one thing (and not a good one, but that’s for another time) to be self-interested when everything seems fine, but to pursue selfish ends in a time of national crisis is tantamount to giving up on our highest ideal – to be able to put ourselves aside to truly love and serve those in need. A disease can kill our bodies, but only our choice of who to serve can kill our souls.

“Love is the ultimate gift of our selves to others,” wrote Mother Teresa. “When we stop giving, we stop loving, when we stop loving, we stop growing, and unless we grow, we will never attain personal fulfillment…” We are sensing the truth of these words particularly now, as we observe the dynamic shifts in our nation’s life. For those not personally struggling with Covid-19, there’s a potential to lose our meaning, to collapse inward into what one friend called “one long weekend” or “extended snowday.”

But if we choose the path of one loooong weekend, we will miss out on a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build solidarity and become a “better society.”  So, as we struggle to find order and purpose in this new way of life, let’s incoporate solidarity and service into the heart of our plans.

Here are three ways we can get started: 

1. Intercessory prayer. In your time of family prayer, lead the charge by upping petitions for other people, extended family and friends, elderly neighbors, those suffering from disease, our healthcare professionals, and our leaders. If they haven’t already, your spouse and kids will catch on to the vision you are casting of solidarity and service. 

2. Set the tone, personally. First in your family and then in the neighborhood and community, humbly look outside yourself and serve others with small acts of kindness. Your family will pick up on this, and if they don’t, you can report to them at the next family dinner–on a phone call you had with a neighbor, a donation you made on your family’s behalf to a ministry to those in need, or some other act of service. 

3. Lead a family service project. Largely confined to our homes this April, get creative. Lead a craft or baking project to surprise a neighbor. Assemble a care package. Write a letter signed by the whole family. Set up a videochat with an elderly relative. Do some yardwork for a neighbor. Whatever it is, get the whole family involved and have some fun with it.  

“The story we tell,” Brooks reminds us, “has to be about how we took this disease and turned it into an occasion to become a better society.” And the ingredients to that story are intercessory prayer, your own acts of service, and your family’s shared sense of purpose as you come together to serve others. The “better society” begins now, in your home.

By God’s grace, may we all look back on this cancelled month of April, this “great wait,” not as an “extended weekend,” but as a time of solidarity and service!  

Don’t Miss…

We are excited to announce three upcoming LIVESTREAM opportunities to attend the Heaven In Your Home Workshop: How to Turn a Crisis into a Time of Grace for Your Family & the World: 

• Tue., Apr. 7th, 8-9:30 p.m.
• Wed., Apr. 15th, 8-9:30 p.m. 
• Thu., Apr. 23rd, 8-9:30 p.m.

Learn more and register here, and then spread the word by forwarding this email to your friends. 

Heaven In Your Home Toolkit  

– If you haven’t already, set aside some time to read and reflect on Pope Francis’ powerful message last Friday, including the video. We were moved by his call to see this moment of crisis as a “time of choosing“: …a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.” 

– In this Made for Love podcast interview recorded last year, we shared our thoughts on hospitality, service, and your own family Trinity House (caveat: in this time of social distancing, don’t take us up on our hosting ideas just yet 🙂 ). 

 – At this Covid-19 resource page from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, you’ll find links to free at-home learning resources made available by an array of publishers. 

– “What is the opportunity for love that is being opened up to me by this moment?” Bishop Barron encourages us all to ask ourselves in this newly posted video.  

– “My children are now watching me, all day, every day,” notes Michele Norris in The WashingtonPost, and “if we are fortunate enough to lean toward renewal, this is a chance to demonstrate new habits.” Amen!

– Prayer is up. “More than half of all U.S. adults (55%) say they have prayed for an end to the spread of coronavirus,” according to a new Pew study. 

– Especially for those in northern Virginia, check out this list of livestream Masses, including a newly-added Holy Week schedule.  

– Consider taking this time of restricted movement to go deeper in one of 10 Online Ways to Reignite Your Faith, a column by Soren in the Arlington Catholic Herald.  

Please Join Us In Prayer  

We invite you to keep the following needs in prayer: 

• For all families and households as we journey toward Holy Week and the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord, that they might experience God’s peace and renewal.  
• For all senior citizens and those at risk, that the Lord will protect them, and that they will experience the care and love of those around them. 
• For all those who mourn the loss of loved ones who have died as a result of Covid-19, that they might experience God’s comfort. 
• For all national, state and local leaders, that they would seek wisdom, courage, patience, and prudence as they make decisions impacting our communities.    
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