Saint Peter wrote in today’s second reading, “Beloved: Come to him a living stone, rejected by human begins but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
“Come to him a living stone …” It is impossible to personally get to know everyone in a large parish. With the shortage of priests, many parishes are being combined into one large parish. So, how do we find a genuine sense of community among so many parishioners?
The last thing we want is for people to feel lost in the crowd, that the church is impersonal, or for them to feel like they do not belong. Everyone needs a place to belong, with other Catholics, where they are accepted, included, and treated as a valued member of the church. So, what are we to do?
Saint Peter wrote in today’s second reading that we are, “like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.” We could think of ourselves as a single brick, that touches other bricks, who touch others, to form the structure of the church. Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith, but we form the Body of Christ. Our large parishes may feel large and impersonal sometimes, but we do not need to feel isolated or alone, or without a deep sense of community and belonging.
If we are a brick in the house of the Lord, then other bricks surround us and touch us. They touch our lives, who in turn touch others. We form “a church within a church” with those we do know. Our smaller, church community is the immediate people that we come in contact with and associate with in our parishes. We form “church” for one another.
There is a saying that we are only six people away from knowing the pope. We know someone, who knows someone, that in turn, personally knows the pope. The structure of the universal church is so vast, that we might feel a bit insignificant in comparison to Her immense size. But, that just isn’t the case at all, according to Saint Peter. We are “chosen and precious in the sight of God.”
The second reading ends by saying that:
“You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises’ of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
No matter where we live throughout the world, we are one people, united in love for Jesus Christ, and for one another. We are chosen by God, a holy people all His own. We have been washed clean by his blood, and made holy by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Not by our own efforts have we been made holy, but by Jesus Christ himself. Even if we do have some personal imperfections, we have been cleansed of all our sins of the past and made holy by Jesus Christ. Our holiness is not based on ourselves and our own efforts, but his.
We should never doubt how much Jesus loves us. Our souls are more valuable to him than anything else in the entire universe, except maybe his Father and his mother Mary. If we do not take anything else with us from the readings for mass today, except the deep down knowledge of Christ’s enduring love for us, that is enough. His love is enough to heal all of us, so that we may sing his praises forever.
Sunday Mass Readings:
Acts 6: 1-7 / Psalm 33: 1-2, 4-5, 18-19 / 1 Peter 2: 4-9 / John 14: 1-12
