Good morning. I want to talk to you about why it’s so important. If you’re going to believe in God and God is going to be a part of your life, that you live in community with other people, why is the community so essential? There’s a line in the scripture that always strikes me. It says, wherever two are gathered, then I’m there. So there’s something about the way God engages with you that does have a great deal to do with your relationship with Him.

You’re feeling loved, you’re feeling safe, you’re feeling valued. That’s very essential. But if that’s all that was involved in your relationship with God, that would mean you would be, not necessarily in any way, shape or form, in your dealings with one another, engaging in anything that had to do with God. You’d just be wanting, working out things with others. But this interesting thing to me about God is that he has decided that he doesn’t want to work directly, necessarily with everybody, individually, all over. He wants something else.

He wants to work in somebody. And in that person, he starts working with the people around. So the circle of friends, family that you have is your responsibility. Not in the sense you have to take on anything with Him. But let me put it this way. The people you love is a responsibility you share.

And when you love someone, you want to give them something. And what God wants you to know is what you’re asked to give is not coming simply from you. It’s coming through you with him. And here’s the greatest of all mysteries to me. How do you know when God working in you, moving towards someone else, giving them the kind of affirmation or love or healing that they need, what part of that is you and what part of that is God? I love this.

You can’t tell. You can’t separate them. Sometimes you feel like you get this divine inspiration. You want to say something, you go, my God, that was great advice. That might be a way you could say, well, God was working right through me and gave me the right words. He sometimes does that.

But you know what it is? He uses everything about you. Not just the words you’ll say, but your presence. When you are filled with God, you emanate a presence of God that affects other people. That’s the nature of God. He’s relational.

It’s a trinitarian God. It’s a father loving his Son. And out of the love of the Father and Son flows out this thing called wisdom and love. That’s the model of the church. That’s the model of a relationship we’re having with God. So the key is, you can’t do this just in a personal relationship with you and God.

You know, the liturgy that changed so much with Vatican II was such a shock to people because you used to go to Mass, you were in your pew, everything was in a foreign language. There was no dialogue between you and the priest. Religion was a private affair between you and God. I remember those days. And then all of a sudden, after the council, we say, no, no, it’s not about the priest up there doing something mysterious and you out there observing it. No, we are all doing it together.

We are creating Eucharist at the table. Not that we are all. We’re all. You know, I’m not taking anything away from ordination of priests, but the Vatican Council says we’re all priests, we’re all ministers to each other. And when we gather in an experience of making Christ present, first of all, hearing about him in the Scriptures, and then making him present in us as a community, I can’t even describe how it feels, but there’s nothing quite like it. A communal experience of God not just existing, but flowing through us to the people around us.

And when you have that experience, the thing you can never, ever feel is, I don’t have anything to do. I don’t have any responsibilities. It’s just about me. No, no, it’s never just about you and God. It’s about God in you and everyone around you. Community is essential, relationships essential.

And not only essential, they bring the greatest joy and sadness in many ways, but the greatest joy is communion with another human. Have a great day.