Over the past few months I have really been thinking a lot about community and the human desire and need for community. The Lord simply continues to put this on my mind--whether it be as the topic for a confirmation retreat or a phone call with a close friend or simply an examination of my own life--and I have come to the conclusion that I imagine everyone else has as well: in order to truly live life to the fullest we must have a deep communion with others.
As human beings created in the image an likeness of God we are called to live a life of deep communion. Not shallow acquaintances, not casual friendships, but relationships in which we truly give ourselves to others and they also give themselves to us. It is these types of relationships that are life-giving because these are the types of relationships we were made for. It is this level of communion that our hearts ache for. We want someone who knows us just as well as we know ourselves, someone who will support us when it seems like everyone else has abandoned us, someone who will kick us in the pants when we need it, but who will at the same time help us rise from our misery. We want someone who will share our joys and our victories and who will help us achieve them. These are the friendships we want but that we are so often afraid to seek for fear that people won't see us as "independent" or as a "leader". We fear the intimacy and vulnerability that is required to build these lasting, meaningful relationships. I think that if God had intended us to be "self-made" and "independent", He would not have created the family or made families so important. It is a sad irony that in our efforts to be "the best" we often alienate others and, finding ourselves lonely at the top, experience sadness instead of joy.
This is the communion that we have with one another in Jesus Christ through the Church. We have this communion through the Communion of Saints and through the Eucharist. With this amount of communion already present in our Churches, why is that so many people don't feel at home in their Church? I think its because we are not intentional about building community, about getting to know one another and spending time with one another. In our parishes we are a family and we should love one another as a family, not as strangers. So let's spend some time intentionally building community. Let's go to Mass, but lets also stay after Mass for a while and talk to one another. Let's start or participate in adult faith formation. Let's go to parish cook-outs, book clubs, Bible studies, and other social events and formation events. It is when we are surrounded by people we love and who love us back that we will be truly alive and can begin to experience "life to the fullest."
