Image of Jesus . Shalom Place


Growing in Christ
Encountering Christ in the Christian Community: part 1

This reflection takes me back to my college years in the late 60s and through the early-70s. I had been raised Catholic--8 years of Catholic school, weekly Church attendance, parents very devoted--but now I was on my own. My biology classes seemed to be negating some of my religious beliefs, and few of my friends were regular church-goers (though most were Catholic at what was then called the University of Southwestern La.--now U.L.. of L.). On weekends when I went home, there was no question of going to Church; I just did it. But as my college career rolled along and I went home fewer weekends, I had to decide for myself what I was going to do about Sunday Mass. Most of the time I went, but there were a few Sundays when I didn’t, sometimes just out of laziness. I never felt good about that, however, as I’d had enough of an education in traditional Catholicism to believe that I could be sent to hell for such negligence.

One thing I noted many times was that when I did go to Mass, I felt much better afterwards. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was more at peace with my conscience, or if something beneficial had actually happened there. During the course of a liturgy, I often found myself yawning deeply, with tears coming to my eyes, and my heart feeling a stirring of joy. I felt peaceful, more at ease with myself, more content to be who I was and where I was in my life. At that time, I didn’t know many people in the campus community--not even the priests, really. Nevertheless, there was a “spirit” of sorts at work in the community as we gathered for worship--a kind of warm, welcoming, hospitable feeling: people greeting me as I walked in, smiles from those with whom I exchanged the sign of peace. But mostly there were all these people . . . coming together to pay homage to God! Just the marvel of this alone touched me! I wondered why they were really here, or what they were “getting out of it?” I saw some of my biology professors there, and a physics and philosophy professor. That gave me heart. If *they* could believe and get themselves to Mass, then perhaps there wasn’t really anything in biology or philosophy that could invalidate my faith. The simple fact of their church attendance was a sign of hope for me, although I’m sure I never told them this.

I share those early impressions because they are a good example of how the presence of Christ working through Christian community touched me during a time in life before I had developed much of a personal relationship with Jesus. I believed in the Christian mysteries, as noted in another conference, but my main connection with Christ was through the Christian community and the Sacraments (more on that in future conferences). I believe now that those (almost) weekly times of attending Mass kept me “hooked-in” or connected with Christ during a time in my life when I wasn’t doing much else to develop my faith. Perhaps that’s the way it goes with many people, and maybe even for many years! Perhaps, too, this is one of the reasons why we’re commanded to observe the sabbath weekly.

Later, after I had attended a Cursillo retreat (1973) and had become involved in Charismatic Renewal and campus student retreats, my sense of Christ’s presence in community deepened. I became very active in the campus community at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and, later, at Louisiana State University, even becoming a member of the campus ministry team at LSU. I met all kinds of people I would have never met if we had not had a bond of faith in Christ; Christian friendships--even my marriage--developed through involvement in these campus communitieis. A wonderful synergy developed between my personal relationship with Christ and involvement in Christian community, as though one enriched the other. The same Christ was present in both, but in different ways. It was as though my sense of a faith-connection with Jesus grew stronger, and my awareness of his love became more real. This connection between Christian community and growing in a personal relationship with Jesus has stayed with me through the years. When one suffered, it seemed that the other was affected as well.

Since marrying in 1976 and having children in 1978, 80, and 86, my involvement with Christian community has seen many ups and downs. There have been times when the demands of family life greatly curtailed the amount of involvement I could have in community. During such times, I continued to pray, read spiritual literature, and do what I could to keep my relationship with Christ alive. It was difficult with only limited community involvement, however--kind of felt like I was trying to swim upstream. Even more difficult were times when the Christian community itself seemed troubled, or fractured from within. For example, an antagonistic relationship between the Bishop of Baton Rouge and the campus minsistry at LSU in 1980 polarized our wonderful community; losing my job as a campus minister at LSU during this time was also very stressful. Yet a group of Christian friends continued to meet for prayer and sharing as we struggled to discern our connection with institutional Catholicism, at least in its Baton Rouge manifestation. Christ continued to be faithful as well in his promise that where two or more gather in his name, he will be there in our midst. We hung in there with the Catholic Church, found other places to worship, and supported one another during the time of transition. I learned from this that Christian community need not always happen within the structures of institutional Christianity. This important lesson has stayed with me and has been reinforced even through involvements with various Christian communities on the Internet.

Changing jobs, moving from Baton Rouge to Wichita, visiting different parishes . . . we’ve been part of many different kinds of Christian communities through the years. Some a full of life and energy, where the love of God is almost tangible; others seem cold and inhospitable, often reflecting the attitudes of their leaders. Another ministry job was lost in Wichita (1997) for many of the same reasons as happened in Baton Rouge. Working for the institutional Church as a lay person is still filled with many pitfalls! It’s a sad and scandalous thing when the experience of Christian community is unloving, unaffirming, unjust, and counter-symbolic; lots of people have drifted away from Christianity because of this. Thanks in no small part to my early experiences of community, however, I knew what the reality can be and was not so prone to equating the actions of bishops with the reality of Christian community. The political maneuverings of episcopal leaders is one thing, but the reality of Christian community is often another. As before, I found another community to provide support and encouragement during a time of transition, this time the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend, KS.

Through growing up in a large family (I’m the oldest of 8 children) and raising our own children, I’ve come to see how family life is our first and most significant experience of community. Of course, not all families are Christian communities--not even close, in some cases!--but I am one of the fortunate ones whose family of origin really did have a deep dimension of Christian values imbued in many different ways. Mealtime prayers, season rituals connected with Advent and Lent, regular Mass attendance, praying the rosary together, teaching from my parents and the way they treated one another--this was the social milieu in which I was raised. It was far from perfect, and I’ve had to “recover” from some of the negative aspects, but it did root me in Christ at a very deep level. My wife and I have tried to make our own family life a Christian community as well, and that has been as good for us as for our children. Coming home to a place where faith and values will be supported is a good feeling. I know that’s not the case in many marriages and families; it can be an especially painful struggle when Christian life is negated at home. But I just did want to close this conference by emphasizing the connection between family life and Christian community. The documents of Vatican II called the family the “ecclesia domestica,” or the domestic Church. Family can be a place “where two or more are gathered in his name,” sometimes formally as in prayer, and always in the way we treat one another.

In our next conference, we will discuss more the theology of the mystical body and the role of spiritual charisms for building the body of Christ and our own faith. For now, however, let’s take time to reflect on what our experience of Christian community has been like through the years.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

1. What is your experience of Christian community at this time in your life?
2. How do you experience Christ in Christian community?
3. What have been some of your highs and lows in Christian community through the years?
4. What was your family life like? Does it seem now like it was a kind of “ecclesia domestica?”