“For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew
During the pandemic, I faithfully watched Mass online or on TV but learned how much of the experience of worship is community, not just ritual. Today’s gospel from Matthew teaches why this is so, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle of them.”
Many people say they have a one-on-one relationship with God and don’t need to mediate it through a church. This may be fine but the pandemic helped me understand why Christ founded a church rather than just wandering around preaching. He also picked a dozen quarrelling apostles to establish the entity. With their manifest imperfections, they set the pattern for the next two millennia.
When people leave churches because of the imperfect people who lead and belong to them, they’re missing the point of belonging to a church. Church leaders and members have never been perfect, but Christ understands this is part of being human. He didn’t mention perfection when he promised to be with groups of believers. Rather he promised unconditionally to be with us, and this is a great comfort in hard times.
I sometimes wonder where people turn if they don’t believe and lack a faith community.
Spending a recent weekend with two relative who long ago left the church from anger or disbelief reinforced this question. I see these good people struggling through our difficult time largely on their own. They’re a lot more despairing and negative than I am because I belong to a caring community that gathers weekly to hear messages of hope and love and provides a communal means for living out those beliefs.
We gain so much spiritually whenever we gather with other believers whether it’s in small faith groups like Christian Living Communities (CLC) or by participating in the endless committees that most congregations sponsor.
This week, some of my fellow parishioners are organizing our annual parish picnic. They’re ordering the burgers and brats, signing up volunteers to set up and clean up, promoting attendance etc. – all the mundane tasks required to organize ANY event. But in the process, they’re also gathering people together to build our Christian community. The Jesuits call it finding God in all things. And Jesus will be in our midst at both the picnic and the mass that precedes it. Both will reinforce the reasons we belong to THIS parish and to the universal church.
Back to my relatives. Over the weekend, I didn’t urge them to return to the Catholic faith or any other faith. That’s between them and God. But I thank God daily for giving me a community of fellow believers to help me through life’s hard times. Jesus knew we need church, however imperfect.
Eileen Wirth
I’m a retired Creighton journalism professor, active in St. John’s parish and a CLC member. In retirement, I write books about state and local history, including a history of the parish, and do volunteer PR consulting for groups like Habitat for Humanities, refugees etc. I love to read, work out, spend time with family and friends including those who can no longer get out much.
Writing reflections has deepened my faith by requiring me to engage deeply with Jesus through the Scriptures. In the many years I have been doing this, I’ve also formed friendships with regular readers nationally, most of whom I have never met. Hearing from readers and what I learn by writing make the hours I spend on each reflection well worth the effort.
