The Life of the Church is lived in Communion. True community only exists in the beatific vision of the glorified saints in heaven. There, in the pure aesthetic beauty of light-bearing appearance and person we will worship God together with the angels being fully known and fully loved. That’s where we’re going, but were not there yet. We want to be in true communion with one another but we’re afrai
d to be found out. Community in the world is based on the masks we wear to protect ourselves and each other from the truth—on the inside, our hearts are laced with dark magic and our minds baited by the seductive malice of pride. How can we be fully loved if to be fully known is to be despised? Who would love someone like me if they really knew who I was? Jesus would love someone like me. He knows everything about us and He loves us anyway. He’s proven his love for us through the Cross. His love for us has conquered the grave. His is a love stronger than death. He meets us in Love now through the preaching of the Word and the giving of the Sacraments. And because Jesus has shown us this kind of love, we can begin the process of learning to love one another in the same way, not like the world loves, not because of what you can do for me or what I can get from you. We are learning to love not because of who you are, but because of who we are, and are becoming, in Christ. The vows we take when we become members of the Church are just this. We promise each other that when the dark magic constricts our hearts, and malice of pride enchants our minds to set conditions on our love and fellowship, when we begin to confuse the principle of love with taking instead of giving, we promise to remember Who Jesus is and what He’s done for us, and we promise to give the same grace to each other. We say, “This is where I will wait for the Lord. This is my family. This is the place and these are the people God will use to sanctify me.” And then like rocks in a tumbler we live Life Together, sinning and forgiving, laughing and crying as the rough edges and jagged contours of our hearts are slowing brought into the burning luster of the splendor of holiness as God beautifies His afflicted ones. Even though it can be painful, we stay. We persevere because more than anything else, we want to be like Jesus.
