{"id":1619,"date":"2017-12-17T05:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T10:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=1619"},"modified":"2017-12-17T05:00:43","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T10:00:43","slug":"called-to-community-beckoned-by-the-trinity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/called-to-community-beckoned-by-the-trinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Called to Community: Beckoned by the Trinity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/12\/image1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1621\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/12\/image1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/12\/image1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/12\/image1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/12\/image1.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Before the beginning is the Trinitarian life of community of the eternal Persons of God. \u00a0The life of the Trinity is an infinite explosion of giving and receiving love. \u00a0\u00a0The spiration of the Spirit is the expression of the Father and Son&#8217;s profound love for each other. \u00a0Each Person of the Trinity pours forth love toward the Others and dances in the love of the Others. Each lives and dwells in the Others and, by sharing life, the Three constitute a community characterized by unity in diversity. \u00a0The interrelationship of the Persons of the Trinity is so complete that the Three are one God, that is, three loves in the same love. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Trinity lives from, with, through, and for each Other. \u00a0\u00a0From all eternity, this community of shared life has existed in a dynamic, mutually interdependent, and reciprocal relationship of self-giving love. \u00a0Historically, the eternal Three expressed the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">dynamus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of their love in the outward movements of Creation, Incarnation\/Redemption, Pentecost, and continue to do so in the ongoing life of the earth community and, in a special way, the Christian community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Triune God, a Mystery of intense inclusion, invites human beings to share in its communion of life and love, and, through this experience, to enter into community with others. \u00a0Just as the community of the Trinity exists in relationships of self-donation and self-differentiation, so, too, the Christian community entails each member&#8217;s giving of self in love to others and the flourishing of \u00a0members\u2019 personal development. \u00a0True community embraces the individuation of its members and inspires them to contribute to the common good. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through His teaching and example, Jesus stressed the importance and value of community. \u00a0He taught His small band of followers to be together in love. Jesus responded lovingly to others&#8217; needs and encouraged His disciples to do likewise. Today, Jesus\u2019 call is to continue His self-donating way of being. \u00a0Love of Christ and the commitment to contribute to the growth of God&#8217;s Kingdom of love on earth through gospel living is what binds together contemporary Christians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following are some of this author\u2019s reflections concerning the \u00a0meaning and value of Christian Community:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Community is a grace<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that involves collaboration with God and others. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Community is about experiencing a sense of belonging<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u00a0In Christ we are, indeed, members of each other. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Relationships that nurture, encourage, and challenge us shape and enrich our shared life in community. \u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Community involves carrying each other&#8217;s burdens<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, i.e., being there for each other in good times and hard times<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Community means praying for and with each other. <\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Community and forgiveness go hand-in-hand<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u00a0This entails seeking reconciliation when we inflict pain on another and offering forgiveness to those who have caused us to suffer. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Community is a discipleship of friends who together steward the talents and resources God has bestowed on them. \u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>In community<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with courage and constantly renewed vigor, <\/span><b>we quest together to serve the needs of God&#8217;s people<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by attuning ourselves to the signs of our times. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Hospitality is essential to Community<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The spirit of welcoming includes honoring each other and creating ample space for differences among us. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Trinity constantly beckons Christians to community, which entails an ongoing commitment to walk the long journey in love together. \u00a0As Mercy foundress, Venerable Catherine McAuley, poignantly reminds us: \u00a0&#8220;Our mutual respect and charity is to be cordial; now &#8216;cordial&#8217; signifies something that revives, invigorates, and warms; such should be the effect of our love for each other.&#8221; \u00a0Just as the cordiality of the Persons of the Trinity for each Other moves outward, so, too, Christian cordiality expresses itself in the mission of mercy to our world, which roots itself in the desire to respond lovingly and wholeheartedly to the needs of our time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his text, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why We Live in Community, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eberhard Arnold, the founder of the Bruderhof, stresses that the &#8220;witness to voluntary community of goods and work, to a life of peace and love, will have meaning only when we throw our entire life and livelihood into it.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a01 Additionally, in an essay on community, Thomas Merton notes that community is God&#8217;s work. \u00a0He insists: &#8220;It isn&#8217;t just a question of whether you are building community with people that you naturally like; it is also a question of building community with people that God has brought together.&#8221;2<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story of \u00a0Christian community is ever unfolding. \u00a0Beckoned by the Trinity, as we continue into the future in the 21<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">st<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> century and beyond, let us encourage and inspire one another to dream dreams, share hopes, and seek and find creative ways to live mercifully by serving persons in need in our broken world. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1 Eberhard Arnold, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why We Live in Community <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(Farmington, Pa.: Plough Phing Co., 1996), p. 28. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 Thomas Merton, &#8220;Building Community on God&#8217;s Love&#8221; reprinted in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why We Live in Community<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, p. 51. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Dr. Marilyn Sunderman, RSM<\/strong> is Professor of Theology and Chair of the on-campus Theology Program at Saint Joseph\u2019s College of Maine. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before the beginning is the Trinitarian life of community of the eternal Persons of God. \u00a0The life of the Trinity is an infinite explosion of giving and receiving love. \u00a0\u00a0The spiration of the Spirit is the expression of the Father &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/called-to-community-beckoned-by-the-trinity\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,20,23,1],"tags":[71,299],"class_list":["post-1619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-evangelization","category-sacred-theology","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-community","tag-trinity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}