Saint Paul wrote: “though we are many parts, we are one body in Christ.” Scripture is amazing because our intellect can read and understand the words that we read, but until the words penetrate our very hearts where the Infinite dwells, they remain nothing but words.
Yesterday, I attended a funeral for the brother of one of the Sisters I live with. From the moment my local community heard of his death earlier this week our hearts were immediately wrenched with pain and each of us shared in that Cross of sorrow that our Sister carried as a result of loosing her brother. It was quite unexpected and we were all thrown back by God’s seemingly sudden decision to call him home.
Between the viewing, the funeral mass, the burial, and the social afterwards our Sisters were present in mind, heart, and soul for our Sister and her family. However, this was not what necessarily struck me as the Divine. The Divine presence was not in our being there, but the dwelling of the Spirit that each of us shared with each other as we walked with and partook in the personal Passion of our fellow Sister. No longer was her cross carried as a hidden “we” between herself and Christ, but as a mystical and united “We” between her and the whole Body of Christ.
It is difficult to describe the movement of the Spirit that I can feel so poignantly moving among each of us in this community right now. St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “We can only speak of God’s life (through the experiences of our own lives) because our language breaks down before the splendor of the Infinite.”
Through the cross, I experienced all and any barriers among us dissipate. Our united focus on the cross became both our source of strength and comfort. It is here at the foot of the cross that I realize, that the gift of community is clearly not a singular and individual sign of our humanity, but it is clearly a sign of all of us being drawn closer to God together by means of our humanity: broken, blessed, and perfected by the Divine. Here we become one. Here we truly become the many members of the one Body of Christ!
"Anyone who loves me will be true to my word." ~John 15:23~
"In the countenance of Jesus, we glimpse the depths of an eternal and infinate love which is the very root of our being" Vita Consecrata 18
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2 comments:
wow....that makes a great deal of sense, and not many people understand it - this was excellent Sister Jac - see i'm in the hospital, my neighbors daughter was ran over by a van, my neighbor is dealing with the press from a now national news bus accident, my sister in law and my neighbors husband have sinusitis -and Sister Joseph Andrew's [SMME} seminarian friend wound up in the hospital - quite a few crosses to carry I might add - but we are one body in Christ and do not stand alone
Amanda
It is amazing how we support one another in time of great need, joy and or sorrow. To speak of it in this way is indeed wonderful witness for the many who read. Thank you .
Patience
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