Reflection
. As human beings, we need a sense of belonging. Community is about finding others and sharing an environment we call home. People want to be part of a community because it enhances life. When creating a community, we become part of a group of people who share substantial values. The feeling of association helps in establishing peace and harmony. We tend to enjoy holidays or rituals together. We bring our differences to this group and, by accepting differences within itself, the community can confront the question of differences in society. This need for togetherness helps us. Community connects us through the many relationships we develop personally and through others. By building community, we can try to put some healing into in our fragmented world.
Prayer
May we live together in peace and unity.
Action
Consider the communities of which you are a part. How do they enhance your life? Are they a positive force where they exist? Are there any negative effects? Who, if anyone, is excluded? Why?
Suggested Reading
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
Matthew 18:20
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
Romans 16:17
We must walk united with our differences: there is no other way to become one. This is the way of Jesus.
Pope Francis
A community needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings. You, the people must give it this soul.
Pope John Paul II
I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.
Mother Teresa
We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.
Haile Selassie
A true community is not just about being geographically close to someone or part of the same social web network. It’s about feeling connected and responsible for what happens. Humanity is our ultimate community, and everyone plays a crucial role.
Yehuda Berg
People crave comfort, people crave connection, people crave community.
Marianne Williamson
Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don’t need a lot of money to be happy–in fact, the opposite.
Jean Vanier
We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.
Cicero
We know that where community exists in confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security. . . . Communities are the ground-level generators and preservers of values and ethical systems
John Gardner
Our life in community is a tangible sign of the union to which all creation is called.
Constitutions of the Sisters of Saint Joseph
We believe that all is one and that our call is to an active inclusive love that seeks this union with God and the sacred community of life that includes all of creation – air, soil, water, plants and animals. We see ourselves in union with this community that we hold as neighbor through whom God continues to be revealed.
Land Ethic Statement of the Sisters of St. Joseph