The Gift of Community

Some time back I listened to an interview with Augustine Fuentes who is a biologist and cultural anthropologist. It was really fascinating. He was talking about how the very functioning of our neurobiological systems, our digestive system, the hormones and enzymes circulating throughout our bodies are deeply affected by our social interactions with others.

In other words, we have a built-in biological need to touch and be touched, to talk and debate and laugh together, to smile and to interact in groups. From a biological standpoint, these things are central to our health.

Henri Nouwen once wrote: “Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other in a gesture of hope. In community, we say: Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs – but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.”

Let us pray: Loving God, we pray today, especially for those who feel alone. Open to them possibilities for community. May they feel our prayers and our love even now. And may they know your deep and abiding presence. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.