Love Letters
Why not be like St. Paul -
stop procrastinating, and write your own beautiful letter TODAY of profound
truth, sincere personal solicitude, hearty encouragement, and Christian
charity?
E-mail and other modern means of
communications are great inventions (of course, that's how most of you receive
these daily virtual retreat reflections!), but these modern media merely
supplement, but will never completely replace, older methods of communications,
such as writing personal letters.
For instance, I'm sure many of you who receive
this reflection have a full inbox today, and might only give a quick glance to
these words. How different it would be if you received a personal letter from
me! You would almost certainly take whatever time necessary to read through the
whole thing....
One of St. Paul's most effective
evangelization strategies was his commitment to letter writing. Not a single
letter of his is an impersonal piece of throwaway junkmail - rather, each
epistle is filled with profound truth, sincere personal solicitude, hearty
encouragement, and Christian charity. His letters of love became prized
possessions of the recipients, so that they kept them carefully while copying
them copiously to share the blessings received through reading them!
Today, the lectionary's first reading is the
beginning of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians (probably the earliest
written words of the entire New Testament!). Take a few minutes to read the
entire letter today, but be sure to read it as a personal letter (i.e., slowly,
carefully, lovingly), not skimming through it the way we do with so much
junkmail (and perhaps even this email!). Then consider whom you would like to
say these things to:
"We give thanks to God always for all of
you, remembering you in our prayers..."
Why not be like St. Paul - stop
procrastinating, and write your own beautiful letter TODAY of profound truth,
sincere personal solicitude, hearty encouragement, and Christian charity? This
is one of the best ways to not just brighten a person's day, but to evangelize
(share good news!) and give something that becomes a prized possession, a
blessing to be treasured intently and shared joyfully!