Good morning from Kensington where Seamus invited me for a coffee after mass.


Yesterday as you probably know was the feast of the Holy Trinity and the priest at mass touched on the idea that God forms a community in Himself in the three people; Father, son and Holy Spirit.

Obviously there is no more perfect community than this community of “common unity” and if we model our communities on this then we may actually succeed!

When Pentecost came the first thing that the Holy Spirit inspired the people to do was to put everything in common and share. If for example I was living back then I’d have no need to be writing blogs begging for support because the people knew that being christian meant sharing!


Yet community isn’t just about sharing goods, it’s also about sharing of mind and heart and of being of one mind and heart.

This requires work because we all grow up differently and have different ideas and the only way we can be of one mind and heart is through prayer to God and dialogue with one another.

Often we can fall out of community with both God and others and this is where the hard work comes in of prayer, reconciliation, forgiveness, surrender….


This is the biggest challenge because God’s ways are not man’s ways and without ongoing surrender we could simply walk away.

Why does a loving God allow this and allow that? We could so easily rebel!

And it’s the same with people when they do things or behave in ways we don’t like or understand.

Without constant prayer from the heart and open dialogue and sharing with one another, community life  no chance.

At times I see “unity” without anything in common or “common” without the unity.

How easy for a group of people who don’t talk or share from the heart to sit at the table and enjoy the wine and food and somehow to call this community?

And how equally easy for a group of 10 people to pray the rosary together and yet afterwards disperse without even saying hello to a single person!


Make no mistake about it, community is not easy and without constant effort and hard work can easily break down into one of these toxic mixes.

Today’s world seems to be intent on forming community without God. I already know of one such community and it’s called hell and it’s still accepting new members!

You see God invites us into His community in the form of the communion of saints but if He does, He makes the rules!

God does not let us do as we want and if we want to be part of His community we must surrender our hearts and lives to His ways and to His plans for us.

This is where most people rebel because they do not want any restrictions or anybody telling them what to do or where to go or how to pray….

And there we touch on the biggest obstacle to community, pride!

Pride caused Satan’s fall and it continues to cause the fall of others.


Community without God is not community, community without prayer is not community and community without the Holy Spirit is not community.

And this is why God has given us spiritual medicines to help us to build community in the form of prayer and the sacraments and in and through the examples and teachings of the lives of the saints.

Next Sunday will be the feast of Corpus Christi (the body of Christ) and so as we prepare we can pray that the more we understand the value of the Eucharist, the more we can be brought together in community of love and prayer.

Those who refuse to enter into this process sadly exclude themselves from real community and while they may be “good” and “nice” people, they are still slaves to their egos and a long way from the narrow path that leads to heaven. All we can do is to pray for them and when and if they challenge us simply reply “sorry but I’m not the one that makes up the rules, you’ll have to take that issue up with God”

So wishing you all a Holy and blessed week and may we be united in prayer, in love for Jesus and the sacraments and may our communities be built on these rocks rather than the superficial quicksands of the world.

Bless,

Michael