Being in Community

What does it mean to be a community of thankfulness! An African proverb tells us: “If we want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk with others.” Bottom line, we can do so much more when we do it in community! Joys are multiplied, sorrows divided—when we share them with those we love! Think of all the ways we “divide and conquer” with many people helping! From the simple things like a potluck dinner, to the fun-raising and fundraising efforts of a school carnival, to rescue efforts at a time of major tragedy…we know that the cliché, “many hands make light work” is true. If we carry that concept over to our efforts to share our faith, to take care of each other, to meet the needs of our local Church and community, we know that if we each did our part, the result would be unimaginable!

St. Julie Billiart, the spiritual mother of my community, the Sisters of Notre Dame, once said, “You cannot do all the good in the world, but just the bit that lies within your power.” Can each of us do our “bit”? Do we even know what that “bit” might be? Everyday we should each spend some time reflecting on what God is calling us to do to be of service within our local and parish community. Thomas Merton tells an interesting story from his childhood: “It was Sunday…the sound of church bells came across the bright fields…Suddenly all the birds began to sing in the trees above my head, and the sound of the birds singing and of the church bells ringing lifted my heart with joy. I cried out to my father, ‘all the birds are in their church –why don’t we go to church?’  My father looked up and said: ’We will…some other Sunday.’”—so what am I going to commit myself to– today, not tomorrow, not next year, not when I am feeling good or things are going better for me? How will I answer God’s call to share something of myself…so that I am contributing to the “potluck” of love and service in my community?

– Sr. Marie Paul Grech, SND