Dear Parishioners,
     Last week we began a series in this Pastoral Corner that could be called “Mass from the Pews,” or something similar.  The series is envisioned to respond to the call of the Second Vatican Council that during the Mass pastors “ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.” 
     This week I want to reflect with you more deeply on the concept I introduced last week: that of the “Assembly.”  At the conclusion of the Baptism for a little boy named David following Mass at the Cathedral this weekend, the ritual instructed me to address the family with these beautiful words: “Dear brothers and sisters: this child, reborn through Baptism, is now called a child of God, for so indeed he is.  Through Confirmation he will receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit and approaching the altar of the Lord, he will share at the table of his Sacrifice, and will call upon God as Father in the midst of the Church.” 
     To be a child of God is to have a seat at the table of the Sacrifice of Christ; to have a role to play in the midst of the Church, the Assembly.  We become members of the Assembly through the sacraments of initiation: through Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist.  These outpourings of Christ’s life, present among us, draw us into a new and profound communion of life with one another.  Jesus and his followers in the Church have spoken of this communion we share by analogy and in metaphors over the centuries: as branches connected to a vine, sheep gathered around a shepherd, living stones built upon a cornerstone, or as a body connected to Christ the head.  Though each metaphor may be different and emphasize different aspects of our Catholic identity, one thing is consistent in them all: there is no such thing as an isolated Christian.  Christ, in joining us to himself, joins us to one another.  The love of God is inseparable from the love of our neighbor.
     This love of Christ that binds us together and makes us into a body is renewed and expressed tangibly in the sacramental life of the Church.  When the Church celebrates the sacraments, it is never as a gathering of isolated and disconnected individuals whose actions and attention is unaffected by one another.  No, the Church instructs us to enter into the presence of God with a full awareness of being part of a body, connected to those 

around us through the grace of Christ.  While certainly each of us has our own individual relationship with God, Jesus has made it clear that our personal closeness to him is always in the context of a closeness with one another. 
     This closeness that we have to one another through baptism is important to call to mind and to reaffirm every time that we gather for Mass and at other times.  Walking into the church for Mass, it is good to think to ourselves, “These are the brothers and sisters Jesus has given me to know and love.”  We are not just isolated people who happen to be sitting in the same pew in the same church, we have been brought together by God, summoned by him at this particular time and place for a communal purpose.   The Assembly is a group of the Baptized who have been gathered together by God for a purpose that is given to them and them alone, as no two assemblies are alike.  No other assembly of people can offer to God what another can offer. 
     Another way of expressing this reality is that through the Mass Jesus Christ consecrates, or makes holy the communion that we share through baptism.  He sanctifies us as a body of believers, not as individuals.  Together, he forgives, strengthens, inspires, upholds, chastises, encourages, and commissions us.  He speaks to us not as individuals, but as a body:  “The Lord be with you.”  This is not a private conversation between you and Jesus.  This is the vine talking to the branches, the shepherd to the sheep, the head to the body. 
     When we think about the obligation to go to Mass on Sunday, I think it is common to think of it in a very individualistic way.  Our sense of obligation comes from a very narrow understanding of our responsibilities to God in a kind of vacuum.  But the reality of the Mass tells us something very different about why it is important for us to be there.  We cannot offer ourselves to God and draw close to him as if we were only children.  We are not.  We have a family, brothers and sisters who have been given to us by Christ from the moment we were adopted into his body.  
Our obligation to go to Mass on Sunday does not exist in isolation, but in communion with all of these brothers and sisters, because we are all tied together in one Spirit around one altar of sacrifice.
     As St. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians “The eye cannot say to the hand ‘I do not need you.’ Nor can the head say to the feet ‘I do not need you.’”  Just as it would be absurd for a part of the human body to consider itself and its purpose in isolation, so too it is absurd for a part of the body of Christ to consider himself or herself in isolation.  The Mass presupposes that we understand this connection we share in Christ.  It assumes that we understand that we have been called to pray and act together and in harmony, supporting and encouraging one another. 
     To put it rather crassly: if the Mass is a team sport, then the Assembly is the team.  Recognizing this communal reality of who we are and what we are doing is foundational when we come to Mass.  We cannot be indifferent, much less hostile, to the presence of those around us at Mass.  Whoever we find ourselves in the midst of, known or unknown: this is the “team” chosen by Christ in this moment to join together in offering ourselves through, with, and in Christ to the Father.  When we extend to one another the sign of peace before receiving Holy Communion, we are not just offering to one another a kind gesture.  We are acknowledging a profound life and unity that we share.  The Holy Spirit has joined us together and made us into an Assembly whose unity in the faith and love of Jesus Christ invites us into a profound peace with God and one another.
     I never tire of repeating the beautiful words of St. Augustine, as he reminded his congregation that at the Eucharist we “receive what we are so that we may become what we receive.”  Know of my prayers for you!