The Band Back Together

Awaiting the great reunion of the Communion of Saints in heaven 

10/28/2017

Ephesians 2:19-22 Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God,  built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

        Something very deep in the human spirit wants to belong to a group, or be part of a team. We see this at Trinity Junior High where a teenager’s identity is stronger in a group than as an individual. They sort of “find themselves” when they become part of a group. This whole feeling of wanting to belong to something larger than oneself is captured in the immortal line from the movie, “The Blue Brothers,” when Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi say: “We’re getting the band back together.” Or, if you prefer the classical formulation by Aristotle: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

         If you could pick any team in the history of the world that you could be part of, which team would you pick? Here’s my top three teams of all time. First, I’d love to be part of the Irish rock band “U2.” They have been playing together since 1976 and they’re still going strong. They are arguably one of the greatest bands of all time. Second, I would love to be part of President Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet. They were called “Team of Rivals” because Lincoln put his previous political rivals on his cabinet. Lincoln believed in the adage: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” And third, I would love to be part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team simply called “The Dream Team,” led by the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and David Robinson (aka “the Admiral”). They beat their opponents by an average of 44 points. The reason I would love to be part of these legendary teams  is that their fame and fortune would become mine; the least known players share the glory of the greatest. They all wear the gold medal in the end.

          In the first reading today, St. Paul teaches the Ephesians the great good of belonging to the team of the apostles, that is of belonging to the Church. He writes: “You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.” In other words, better than belonging to the band U2, or serving as part of Lincoln’s cabinet, or even dribbling on the Dream Team is the fellowship of the followers of Christ. Why? Well, because the lowest and least in the Church gets to share in the glory of the greatest, which in this case, is Christ himself.

         Today is the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude Thaddeus, two of the twelve apostles. But we know very little about them; they’re just part of the band. They don’t even get their own feast day but have to share one day; they just get honorable mention. But what an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as the Apostles who were the rock stars, St. Peter and St. Paul, and so forth! Every member of a true team, regardless of his or her rank, shares in the glory of the greatest members. They all wear the gold medal in the end.

         My friends, do you realize that you belong to the greatest group and team ever assembled in being part of the Catholic Church? This team is also known as “the Communion of the Saints.” Listen to how the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes God’s “dream team.” It says in the last section of the Creed: “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others” (Catechism, 947). That is, more than Bono’s voice, or Lincoln’s erudition, or Jordan’s jump shot, the goods of Christ are shared with the members of his Body, the Church, which is what you and I are. When we grasp the depths of the Communion of the Saints, we’ve touched the very taproot of the deepest human need to belong to something greater than ourselves. Somehow each member of the Christian faithful becomes greater by belonging to the Church. Why? Well, because as Aristotle said: “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The least Christian shares in the riches of the greatest, that is, Jesus Christ.

           As usual, however, here on earth we only scratch the surface of these tremendous truths. We’ll have to wait till heaven where we can really revel in their richness, where everyone will wear the gold medal. Only then and there will Jesus finally “get the band back together.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!