Daily Lenten Reflection: 2/22/2021

This first week of Lent is all about the community of faith. In the first century, students of Jesus, the people we call apostles, traveled throughout Israel and into the wider world telling the Gospel story. As they went, communities formed where people would learn together, pray together, and share life together.

Faith communities—these house churches—became the root of individual faith, and that rootedness is still important today. Too often people speak of Christianity as an individual identity. Jesus notably said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Mt 18:20).”

Jesus knew the importance of living a life of faith together, and we should, too. The idea of being in community has been challenged in an unprecedented way. The pandemic that has shaped so much of our lives continues to keep us from sharing life as fully as we would like,
and so our commitment to one another must become even more intentional. As we begin this journey of Lent, you are encouraged to create a sacred space in your home that reminds you of God’s love for you and of your inclusion in the love of your church.

Saint Joseph is not a building; Saint Joseph is a community. Each one of us belongs in this community of faith. Whenever time we learn together, pray together, and share life together, even though we are separated physically, we are gathered together in the name of Christ, and Christ is indeed among us.

Find something in your home that reminds you of our Saint Joseph community, the community that supports our Christian fellowship.