Being Community

One of the hazards of being a cradle Catholic – and perhaps for newer Church members, too  – is that we can become so accustomed to aspects of our faith that we begin to take them for granted.

Our faith, it seems, is like a song. We can dance and sing along with it, or it can become background music as we go about our busy lives.

One aspect I tend to take for granted is our community of faith as a parish and also as a wider church. At times, even the word “community” has been a cliché for me, almost void of meaning.

I was in that state of mind when my oldest daughter was deciding on a college, and one school – a small Catholic one – boasted about its strong community on campus. “Blah, blah, blah” was what I began hearing.

But then my daughter, Elizabeth, and I met separately with a student. He told us about when he became sick and had to be hospitalized while he was at the college and away from home. The school provided his mother a place to stay when she arrived, and students, teachers and administrators visited him and brought food. Everyone was praying for him and offering Masses on his behalf. He wasn’t even Catholic, he said, but he appreciated the Masses and all the prayers and support.

Wow, I thought, what he described really was “community.” His testimony helped convince our family that this was the college for our daughter.

And suddenly the word “community” became alive for me again.

I was reminded about community once more this week, as I saw members of our parish gather at a prayer service for parishioner Jean Lahrs, who has a serious liver illness. I’m sure the people there had other important things to do, but they must have felt they needed to be there for Jean.

And even before walking in the church doors, I saw another example of community life, a volunteer mowing grass. It’s a humble chore, but a much-needed one for any family.

I’ll probably be thinking about community again this weekend – as I look around at Mass and see familiar faces, as we pray together and for each other, as we become united with God in the Eucharist.

I’ll also see my parish family as we cheer for our soccer teams and at the parish festival, where we’ll work and play together, all for the good of our church.

Sometimes when people talk about community I still hear “blah, blah, blah” . . . . But sometimes real examples of community resound  in my heart. My ears become attuned to that song of faith. And I feel the need to join the singing and dancing.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.