This past weekend I traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania to preside at the wedding of a former UMaine student. Not only was he a former student, but Jon also played on the hockey team. Most impressive was that when he first arrived at UMaine and when his brother arrived two years later one of the first places they became familiar with was the Newman Center for Sunday night Mass. For their entire time at UMaine, Jon and Steven were regulars at the Newman Center. So much so that I not only got to know these fine young men but am pleased to call their whole extended family my friends.

Over the last year many people have asked me if I miss my previous assignment. It is hard to not miss a place I called home for fourteen years. But this is my home now. This is where God has sent me to make new friends and to share my friendship with Jesus. Right here and right now Jesus has a plan for me, and this plan involves all of you. This plan would not have worked in my previous assignment and will not work in my next assignment. We are together at this moment because, in His infinite wisdom, God has determined that here and now is how we are going to help each other grow in faith.

How is this going to happen, we might ask ourselves? I think the most important lesson that I took away from being at UMaine for fourteen years is that there is no substitute for community. When a new student showed up to the center, we tried to make him or her welcome. We provided food for the soul and food for the belly. We offered a place to pray and a place to play. We offered support and challenge. We offered a place to grow one’s confidence and a place for one to grow an intimate relationship with Jesus.

It wasn’t the building that made this possible. It was the people in the building. It was the upperclassmen helping the newbies. It was the missionaries sitting with the person who had no one to sit with. It was the staff that made a homemade meal every Wednesday night. But mostly it was the Holy Spirit leading each of us to share the joy of Jesus in the best way we could.

It turns out, that the lesson about the importance of community I learned at UMaine was not just for UMaine. Indeed, in the depths of our hearts, each of us wants to belong to a loving, supportive, challenging community. Each of us wants to be with people who nurture our wellbeing, who share our desires, and who help us to be the best version of ourself that we can be.

Together or apart we should be that community for one another. Grounded in the love of Jesus Christ, each of us should be attentive to praying for one another. We should be helping one another to overcome the anxiety of these COVID days. We should be generously and gently challenging one another to be grateful even during all the challenges we are sharing. Inviting people into our homes to pray and maybe to share a socially distant evening of horseshoes can help restore community. And yes sharing a meal, bringing dessert to a neighbor, ordering a pizza for the neighbors when you order one for your family, a picnic in the backyard with a few friends are safe ways we can use the universal language of food to keep in touch with our community.

It’s a privilege and an honor when I get a call from a former student who asks me to come and baptize their baby or to witness their marriage. More importantly it is a sign of the depth of love that grows when a community is grounded in living as Jesus calls us to live. When we come together because of Jesus, when we come together for Jesus, when each of us seeks to reveal Jesus in the way we love and care for one another then our community continues to grow strong. In these trying times, when it is hard to gather for prayer and praise, when it is more difficult to gather around the altar of Jesus, we should not forget that we become what we receive. We are, each of us, the body of Christ, commissioned and empowered to grow our community of faith, hope, and love.