Week Four – Group Session (Paul and the Church) God does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another… Christ instituted [a] new covenant, in His Blood, calling together a people made up of Jew and Gentile, making them one, not according to the flesh but in the Spirit.This was to be the new People of God… Established by Christ as a communion of life, charity and truth, it is also used by Him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent forth into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Lumen Gentium, 9). What distinguished the communities of the early Church was the shared belief in the saving power and the love of God incarnate in Jesus Christ. Such love should characterise our parishes, our families, our communities. St. Paul asks us to ‘put on love’ (Colossians 3:14).This love is to serve both those present in the community and to act as a beacon to those around it, calling them to itself. St. Augustine sums this up beautifully in one of his sermons: ‘We ourselves are the house of God. By becoming Christians we are like stones newly quarried and when catechised, baptised, formed we are hewn and evened up.’ Nevertheless, Augustine continued, we ‘do not make the house of God unless we are cemented together by love. It is only when people see that the stones and wood in the building are securely fastened to each other that they would enter without fear of collapse’. At what point did you feel that you ‘belonged’ to your parish? How has your experience of a small community helped you to ‘belong’? How might you, as individuals and as a group, help others feel a sense of ‘belonging’? Do we see our gifts as personal possessions or as something to be used for the good of our community?
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