Posted: 17 Apr 2013 03:29 PM PDT

Standing guard over Copley Square in the Back Bay area of Boston is the magnificent Trinity Church, built in the late 19th century. It has presided over the finish line of the Boston Marathon for almost 100 years, unchanging in the midst of society’s changes, a symbol of strength, endurance, and stability. No matter what happens in the square, Trinity Church was built to stand firm.

Watching the news of the Boston Marathon develop with Trinity Church in the background, I thought how important it is to spiritually stand firm in times of chaos and fear…stand firm with persistent and insistent prayers of God’s love for all Her children and each one’s inseparability from this love, no matter what the physical evidence suggests. It is how we can feel a small measure of certainty — certain love — especially in uncertain times.

These impulses of certain love — even when not put into words — compel us to reach out and help others, in direct challenge to the danger or fear or confusion we may feel. I saw this repeated over and over on the news: first-responders and individuals in the crowd rushing toward the injured in order to help. To me, these selfless and fearless individuals are guided by an unseen and powerful hand that protects and shelters while the helpers comfort, minister, carry, or simply hug. In a tiny yet forceful way, I think we find a sense of security in these acts of unconditional love we offer each other.

Today, let’s make a solemn vow to love more, look for opportunities to be kinder, refrain from anger or retaliation, and to be effortlessly guided by the powerful Being that cares for us as we care for others.

A statue of Phillips Brooks, a highly-respected preacher of Trinity Church for almost 30 years and loved by all denominations in Boston, is a watchful sentinel on the grounds. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science during the same period, was a supporter and they frequently corresponded. For many years, resting on her bedside table, was this quote from the Right Reverend Brooks:

“God has not given us vast learning to solve all the problems, or unfailing wisdom to direct all the wonderings of our brothers’ lives, but He has given to every one of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch.”

Eddy pencilled beneath the quote:

“The secret of my life is in the above.”