Love must Act, as
Light must Shine, and Fire must Burn
Father James Otis Sargent Huntington, OHC
Founder, The [Episcopal] Order of the Holy Cross
This is
the Feast Day of Fr. Huntington. I am deeply grateful for him. I was a member
of the Order for 15 years (1967-1982). I was a seeking, frightened (a little)
Gay young man when I came to Holy Cross Monastery. But in visiting, I had
sensed that this was a place where I would be set free .. and where I would find
a path to that Freedom. I spent 15 years with mostly Gay men, and so was able
to claim my essential being. But I also spent hours each day in chanting the
monastic Office, and hearing the Scripture and Its interpretation in a
compassionate, heart-centered, intelligent mode. When I finally left the Order
in 1982, age 35, I was ready to spend 25 years in serving God’s people … in
leading them to a vision of “God” and of a Gospel that I had experienced and
knew could bring people to that deep humanity that the mystics called “divine”.
“Love
must Act”. It’s the same as saying “Faith without works is nothing”. There is
one critical thing I learned early on:
Love is essentially a matter of the will. God does not love because She
feels like it. God chooses to love.
Jesus did not go to the cross because it “felt” good. He chose it … an act of
the will. Love is a steely thing!
The First Letter of John says clearly, “You
cannot say you love God and not love your neighbour”.
I’m
still learning to choose Love. There are so
many things that get in the way! The Ego especially. But I know that loving others with abandonment makes me the human being I
want to be. I have to learn this lesson every day … but I now know that
choosing Love … “Love must act”
… is the path to inner peace.
Thank
you, Fr. Huntington. And thank you, the Order of the Holy Cross.
Brian+
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