Last Thursday evening I was at a gathering of about 40 parishioners of the 55 who participated in the Lenten ARISE Program. These people had met in small groups six times between Ash Wednesday, and Holy week to listen to Scripture, share their faith and to pray together. The purpose of this gathering last Thursday was to evaluate the experience, (i.e.) was it worth the time commitment? The answer was a resounding yes. The silences were deep and the statements were profoundly thoughtful as we reflected together but what really got my attention was the level of noise in the refreshment period at the end of the meeting. What was apparent is that many of these people who did not really know each other before Lent were now connected and some had become friends. Another thing going on during Lent was the Pot Luck Suppers for First Communion 1 Children and their parents. Almost 55 parishioners-parents, children and First Communion I Committee members came to the rectory over five nights to share food that they had prepared. Again people connected. The children learned songs, listened to stories, prayed, and ate while the parents discussed family life, where faith and church fit in and ate and prayed. Some evenings the noise level was a bit higher than usual around this house with people connecting.
Almost weekly this year Sr. Ann Boland, a parish volunteer, met with some older children and teenagers to prepare them for the sacraments of initiation. She also had present other children and adults who already part of our parish oommunity. Again the noise level at times was significant and many of these children are becoming friends, as are their parents.
Jeanne Lafond and Joe Duford are our parish representatives to our city RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). Since last October they have been meeting with members of Christ the King Parish to prepare eight adults (5 of them from Our Lady of Lourdes) for the sacraments. This faith sharing program has bound them to each other as they walked this journey toward the sacrament and some real friendships have developed.
Personally, I have loved it when I hear the level of noise arising from the body of the church before and after Mass and at our monthly Coffee Sundays. This noise from conversations lets us know that people in the parish are connecting more and more, working on their relationships with one another and becoming friends in more than a superficial way.
The goal of any efforts we make as Church must be first and foremost to become as community and individuals, servants to the world and especially to those in need. For us to do this effectively and as Church, we need to be in fact Church together (i.e.) a community that looks like a community.
Our God is Trinity. Our God is a community of three distinct persons but united in loving relationships. Our working to become a deeply relational community is driven by a need for us to mirror God and God’s intimate life in our being together as we serve the world. So we are working at this in many ways and I rejoice in it all.