Our society demands that we be efficient. Then, when we hear the evangelical call to bear much fruit, we think it is about being productive. And we confuse community life with teamwork, expecting to achieve impeccable performance. Then, when the results are not what we expected, we become discouraged.
However, Jesus has come to speak to us about something else, about his life in the Trinity, a community of love. It is important to be effective, but without forgetting that the key is to treat each other with affection. Community is built with personal ties, establishing bonds, in short, cultivating communion.
"See how they love each other." is the watchword of the Gospel so that the world may believe. The first Christian community enjoyed the sympathy of the people, which is why it was so attractive. Of course, there were miracles and the preaching of the kerygma was fundamental, but surely the people felt challenged when they saw how they related to each other.
We are all afraid of loneliness. A fear that, deep down, expresses the nostalgia we feel for God, our Father, the only one who quenches our thirst for affection. Community is a balm for this inner restlessness. God's infinite affection for each one of us is incarnated in the concrete faces of our close community. Through the frank treatment of the brothers, often inscribed in small details, we feel loved by God, but, above all, capable of loving and responding to our vocation. Sometimes, obsessed with image, with being efficient and productive, we forget what is important: love.
The Church offers us many opportunities to live in community: the family, the parish, the school, the religious community, the apostolate group or the team involved in a social action. It is important that we bear much fruit, that the group functions, but this will be given to us as a bonus. We need to share life with people who make us feel loved, respected, valued and cared for. And, at the same time, in order to truly convert and free ourselves from the bonds of our selfishness, we cannot be alone, making efforts in vain. Of course, not everything is idyllic. In living together we become aware of our limits. Relationships are a constant challenge that makes us come out of our worries to open ourselves to the problems of others. They are, in short, a space of conversion.
Sometimes the community is like the desert where Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted. Indeed, friction occurs. We Christians are not safe from backbiting, judgmentalism and backbiting. They are the poison of community life. Scandalized, we can withdraw and think that we are better off alone. But without others we can do little. The community is the school where the Lord teaches us to love.
Christian life demands of us an examination of conscience, full transparency, so as not to deceive ourselves. Community life also, but the reward is enormous. We participate, in spite of our defects and weaknesses, in the life of the Trinity. We are an echo of eternity, even without being perfect.
Then we want to be together, to celebrate our joys, to support each other in our sorrows, to share what we have and what we are. And people sense something special. It attracts attention. They want to participate in this feast that is faith. Then, the community becomes something provocative, an authentic evangelizing agent because it lives the Gospel and transmits it.
Auxiliary Bishop of Barcelona and Vicar General. In his priestly ministry he has combined parish work with catechetical and educational pastoral ministry. In the Episcopal Conference of Tarragona he is President of the Interdiocesan Secretariat of Catechesis, and in the Spanish Episcopal Conference he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for Evangelization, Catechesis and Catechumenate.
