Apr. 2020, Week 1: Faith Life

by Soren and Ever Johnosn

“No words for this,” an economist said last week, in response to the sudden rise in unemployment over the past three weeks. As we journey through Holy Week, toward the sacred Triduum and an unprecedented stay-at-home Easter, away from our places of worship, friends and fellow parishioners, we sadly concur.

And yet, just as we are faltering for words, the Word of God, Jesus, is moving ever closer to us. In this holiest of weeks, he is inviting us to meet him in a place beyond describing – in the place where he dwells with us every day – our homes, our domestic churches, our Trinity Houses. How fitting that the first week of April, when we focus on Level 1, the Faith Life of your Trinity House, is Holy Week!

Why are our homes in some ways beyond describing? Because they are where love dwells, where we meet with the faces that most show us God’s mercy and love, his great yearning for us. How do you put that into words? You can’t, really. But we try!

What makes home so indescribable is that it’s the place where we most intimately encounter God in the eyes of loved ones, receiving with profound satisfaction their tokens of love, and then turning with them to worship the God who makes communion with others possible.

And if this kind of communion and worship isn’t present in your home right now, know that it can be. Pope Francis said last week that a moment has arrived for each of us to “separate what is necessary from what is not.” While just getting through this season may feel like a decent goal, this could be much more – a time of deep, interior conversion for you and your family. 

If one family member sees the possibility for this kind of communion and reaches deep to mirror back to the others how God sees them, how he loves them, this indescribable reality of interpersonal communion can begin to take shape, bringing hope of active love where it may have been a bit dim before. As Bishop Barron has said,  in spite of the undeniable hardships, this time is a new “opportunity for love.”

What is a practical way we can increase the possibility for more of this type of love and communion in our homes? As cooped up as we may feel, there has never been a better moment to renew our homes as “domestic churches” and Trinity Houses. In a week in which you’ll worship through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday with your family in your home, it’s time to give some attention to your home altar, shrine, or prayer corner!

Having a sacred space in the heart of your home, where all are reminded that it is God who gives us the possibility of love, is the core of the physical structure of a Trinity House. So, take this moment as a chance to beautify this sacred place of family worship, the most holy place of your everyday life. 

And then, with our fellow Americans, we can return more fervently to prayer. It is natural to first focus on ourselves and our families, but let us also be on our knees, praying for spiritual renewal and revival in our nation. In this very unusual Holy Week, during which the deaths of so many of our fellow countrymen are coinciding with Our Lord’s own passion, we should take the possibility of increasing communion and worship in our homes as seriously as possible. 

As the death toll from Covid-19 mounts, it is easy to feel helpless. But will we allow their deaths to be in vain? Or will we honor the legacy of those who die this week by turning more resolutely toward love, toward Our Lord? Their deaths should be a reminder of our own mortality, and our need to pray for rebirth – for a country in which family members and fellow citizens look at each other with love and worship the God who gives us life and makes love possible.

All this can begin in your home, in your Trinity House. And there are words for this: “In the beginning was the Word…” And the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is with us. Crucified for our sake, He is also Risen!

Don’t Miss…
 
We are excited to have registrants from over 14 states who have signed up for one of 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: 

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

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

Heaven In Your Home Toolkit  
 
– By now you’re probably receiving links and updates about how to join your own parish or church via livestream. But just in case you’re looking for resources, consider any of the livestream liturgies available via the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ resource page, or for those in northern Virginia, this list of livestream Masses, including a Holy Week schedule. 

– Does your family have a prayer corner, a “little oratory,” home altar, or shrine? Leila Lawler and David Clayton’s book A Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home, is a great resource. Here is a brief article about their book which provides some easy ways to get started. 

Ministry Testimonials

– “The Heaven in Your Home Workshop was a powerful reminder for me that my life and my family need to be centered and grounded in the Trinity. The workshop helped to see the subtle ways that the Devil prevents family members from having profound, interpersonal and Trinitarian relationships with one another. I was able to see that even too much of a good thing — whether it’s media, more activities, or other distraction — can work against our union with God and against having a family that reflects the Trinity. We had no idea just how relevant your information would be and just how soon we would be faced with so much adversity as households, parishes, dioceses, states, countries, and worldwide. Heaven in our homes is the only answer that makes sense in this uncertain world of COVID-19.” – Kelly Bennett, Coordinator of Youth Ministry and Adult Evangelization, Precious Blood Catholic Church, Culpeper, Va

Please Join Us In Prayer  

 We invite you to keep the following needs in prayer: 

• For all families and households as we journey through Holy Week and toward the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord, that we 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 healthcare professionals, essential workers, clergy, and Church leaders, that the Lord would protect and strengthen 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.