I never felt more lonely in my life than when I went to learn English in a college near Liverpool. When I got off the train, as the only passenger, in the middle of nowhere, there was no one in sight. After a little while, an old man mumbled something, grabbed my luggage, and took off with it. Arriving at the college, a priest awaited me. We could not communicate, so he led me in silence to a small little cubicle that was to be my bedroom for the next few months. When I was left to myself, I sat down on my bed and sobbed “Mummy, mummy!”
This was traumatic for a young boy. When recently I saw four girls entering a restaurant, never looking up from their iPhones, ordering food and drinks, paying for it without ever saying a word to one another, I wondered whether they would cry at night in the privacy of their rooms? We are not created to be alone. “No man is an island” (John Donne). The pain of loneliness is felt mostly in times of epidemics, such as now, or during sickness and death. It reminds us that we are called to happiness in social community life.
The Christian life is community life. Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1:9-12 invites us to “the embrace of the Trinity in the Body of Christ”, a life with a multitude of people from every language, people and nation, saints as well as sinners.
The anointing of the Spirit (Confirmation) gives us the wisdom and courage for “a life worthy of the calling, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)
Many live the Christian life alone. A woman once asked me “why, at the kiss of peace, do I need to shake those dirty hands? I have nothing to do with these people. My faith is between God and me!” She failed to understand that Jesus’ call to “take up your cross and follow me!” (Matthew 16:24) invites us to the loving embrace of all people within the Trinity.
Sadly enough, even those in monasteries and convents, who commit themselves to the common life, often flee its challenges and take refuge in the pursuit of individualistic excellence, seeking success as the goal of a “saintly” life (titles, power, wealth, career, clericalism).
Thus, saints are unconsciously portrayed as without failings, sins, or weaknesses but as self-sufficient models. A pope going into a confessional does not fit into that category. How far is this removed from Jesus who, giving his life for us died a shameful death as a criminal?
Following his baptism, Jesus calls his disciples two by two – Simon and Andrew, James and John – teaching us that, if we want to find life and happiness, we need to lay down our lives for one another as he did. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
The disciples eagerly respond with generosity, leaving their nets and their father immediately to follow Jesus. The Christian life begins with death of self and new birth. “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God … unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God … you must be born anew” (John 3:3-7).
In Mark 1:21ff Jesus takes the disciples into “the synagogue” (in Jesus time this was the Church). It’s there, they learn “to die to self and receive new life” and are delivered from “an unclean spirit”. The unclean spirit refers to those who “lead an unworthy life within the body of Christ”.
St Paul teaches us “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers … what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?” “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
To be made pure means, “fully pleasing to Christ, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). Purity is forged in community and brings the happiness God promised – “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters.” (2 Corinthians 6:16)
