After a wonderful Sunday Mass at the Cathedral (Duomo), our group decided to take a trip out to the Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi. Having seen the Basilica before, I decided to stay back and spend some time with one of the guys here in Siena who I don’t get to talk to very often. We had a wonderful conversation about life in Italy thus far, the Saints, and general discussions about the life of a young man following Christ. We both enjoyed talking to one another and I think we would agree that it was something we needed at that point. It got me to thinking about the importance of Christian fellowship--something I first experienced on an expedition with CYE (www.cyexpeditions.org).
Sometimes I find myself thinking that the way to know Christ is by sitting in the chapel long enough until God imparts His divine wisdom upon you and you are then able to interpret Scripture perfectly, know God’s will perfectly, and live a heroic life like the Saints did. Now, there are many things wrong with that thought, not least of which the theology of the statement. But, I want to bring up one comment specifically—that is, the importance of Christian fraternity and sorority. No, I’m not talking about grabbing a keg of trappist ales and inviting your best religious friends over for a crazy night. Rather, I’m talking about the importance of having quality friends who help you come closer to Christ--although A FEW trappist ales might be in order.
We all know the people in life who we spend time with, but don’t really feel like we accomplished anything while spending time with them, or we walk away questioning why we decided to get together. On the other hand, we know those people in our life who challenge us to become better people. They encourage us to lead virtuous lives. Why do we feel better when we hang out with certain people? I am going to venture to say that it’s due to the fact that we need those relationships. If you recall back to my point that we desire the greatest good, it makes sense that we also prefer those people who help us to achieve that greatest good—perfect, unconditional, reciprocal love with God for eternity.
In Pope Benedict XVI’s book, Introduction to Christianity, he brings up the story of Baron Münchhausen, who gets himself stuck in a bog and has nobody to help him out of the bog. Thus, he tries, rather absurdly, to lift himself out of the bog by his hair…but to no avail. Pope Benedict references this example to make the analogy that we, as Catholic Christians, often think that we can achieve spiritual heightening by ourselves. This is just as easy to achieve as it is for the Baron to lift himself out of the bog. Instead, we require good Christian fellowship to guide one another to God. I think that this analogy is most evident when lived out in normal circumstances. Such was the case while conversing with my fellow classmate and brother seminarian. Humans are, by nature, beings that need company. Thus, we are inclined to desire good, quality, Christian fellowship that, like any good and loving relationship, points us to the love of Christ and enhances our relationship with the Trinity.
