Today's Good News Reflection

In today's first reading, we learn that none of the people of Old Testament times obtained salvation, not even the holy ones, until we of the New Testament era were saved by what Jesus did on the cross. This does not mean that they went to hell. Remember, eternity is not a clockwise movement through time the way we experience it in our temporal lives. Those who died embracing God's love immediately received the benefits of Christ's future victory over death.

The most interesting point of this scripture is everyone's interconnectedness. The greatest heroes of the Old Testament were not made perfect until Christ died for them and for us too. Although they were promised the eternal joy of union with God, they could not receive it without us. We are all united in the gift of eternal unity with God.

In our individualistic world, we've lost sight of our interconnectedness. We've forgotten what it means to believe in the communion of saints, despite professing it often as we recite the Creed of our Faith. In my opinion, individualism is the biggest sin of our age -- that is, the self-centered "me first" attitude that leads to abortions, many divorces, conflicts within parishes, greed, and you-name-it. The idolatry of self takes the goodness of our individual uniqueness to the opposite of what God intends, leading to crimes against our interconnectedness.

Throughout biblical times, people understood that they were part of a larger whole. In the Old Testament, when one person disobeyed God, the entire community was punished. Today, we think that was unfair. Why should all suffer on account of one? Jesus answered that question when he, as one man, suffered for all.

The fact is, we are all connected to each other. Everything we do creates ripples in the stream of life that reach much farther than we can see. Even our small deeds of kindness make a wide-spread difference. So too our sins. This is why we go to a priest for Confession: Through him, absolution comes not only from Christ but from the whole Body of Christ: the community on earth and in purgatory and in heaven.

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus gets rid of a legion of demons. As Christ's earthly Body now, we continue this ministry. Together, we can be a powerful, undefeatable, miracle-working unit of holy strength that overcomes evil. Together, we have all the power of Christ. But do we choose to actively work together?

The absence of those who are not active in Christian community and ministry is grievous, for this diminishes what the Body can do. The world suffers because of the disconnectedness of Christians, and because some of us are too preoccupied with our self-focused desires to provide our gifts and talents to the works of the Church, and because some clergy and lay leaders assert self-importance instead of imitating Christ's style of servant-leadership.

Do you feel worthless or lonely? The cure is in your connection to the community, which is a life of actively serving and being served.