Community. Hmm, what is that? It seems like a pretty simple concept, but community was something that I never really quite understood until coming to Creighton. What was the big deal about it? I had always made it a point to be independent, to do the best I could and not really to bother much with what others around me were doing. Seemed to work well. Over the past few years though, that has changed more than I could imagine. If there was one thing I love about Creighton, it is the community.

Paul, in today’s first reading, hits at the very heart of this. We hear about the community that exists between all of us, united through Jesus. We find that we are all united in the quest to live a life that serves His will. But the really interesting part comes at the very end, where we hear “in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God” (22). The idea is that God does not just have a plan for my life, or your life, but all of our lives, and that He is working to build us together into something greater than we could achieve alone. It is more than just relying on others or helping others in times of need, but really seeing each and every person around as truly as a “brother and sister of Christ” and being as concerned with their salvation as our own.

The wonderful thing is that there is even an added twist to this community that only everlasting life could provide: we share this community not only with those people living here with us, but we are also “fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God!” (19) The angels, saints, and all those in heaven are with us in this quest to build each other up to God. We are already part of this loving community, the only question that remains for us is how much more will we help it to grow and come to fruition here?