The Associate Rector's Message for the Week of October 6, 2019

Father Matthew Moretz (photo credit: Alan Barnett)

Dear Friends,

Upon being asked to reflect on the meaning of belonging and community for our Annual Appeal, I am drawn to an excellent principle that is revealed in the Constitutions for the Order of Saint Augustine, a Catholic religious order of renown almost eight hundred years old.

Community is the fruit of charity and is expressed in friendship, which brings forth and nourishes loyalty, trust, sincerity and mutual understanding. Charity unites us in Christ through the Holy Spirit, helping us to recognize the signs of God’s love in the events and circumstances of life… (Rule 29).

What is most striking to me is how naturally the connection is made between community and friendship. It would be easy to forget this connection, when there are so many different groups out there that call themselves a community, some more friendly than others. Some are set on making money or being liked. Others are set on protecting themselves or perpetuating a tradition. All these things are fair goals, but, if a group of people has friendship in their midst, well, this is the sign that one belongs to a community worth having. And for the Augustinians, friendship is a sign that a community is the fruit of Charity, one of the fruits of the Spirit that can be translated as Christian love of others, or agape in Greek.

When I think of my own strong sense of belonging in the Church, this Augustinian principle reveals to me that it is not just an encounter with God that brought me, and keeps me, in this community, but it has been so many encounters with friends. From my youth, I went to church because my friends. Of course, I had to encounter these friends in the midst of sacred buildings, within the structure of sacramental practices, and within a historical tradition of the Christian wisdom and prayer. But without that steady procession of friends in my life that I found in the church, I don’t think that any of the helpful and supportive structures of Christian life would have mattered much.

And so, this line of spiritual reflection leads me to proclaim the renewed conviction that the only community of Saint Thomas Church worth having is a community of friends. Because it is through friendship that the treasures of our common life and heritage are made known. In fact, it is through friendship that we know ourselves as God knows us: as beloved. And that equips us to receive all sorts of blessings from God. The Augustinians say it better than I could:

Friendship in Christ not only favors the development of each one’s personality, but it also increases freedom in the community itself, in which a healthy openness of mind fosters dialogue and enjoys a necessary autonomy with which to serve God better. (Rule 30)

In all that we do at Saint Thomas Church, in every gathering, in every goal, in every strategic plan, we are called to be friends to one other, as Christ is a friend to us (John 15:15). This parish is indeed a veritable greenhouse for friendship to grow under God’s light. And this holy greenhouse is one that I support and ask you to support generously, this year and for many to come.

In Christ,

Father Matthew Moretz

Associate Rector