Are we really a 'dispersed' community?

Greetings, Sisters, Brothers and Friends of the Community!

The Community of the Gospel is described as a ‘dispersed’ community. I’ve been thinking about this over the last few days, and would like to make a few comments about it.
Webster’s dictionary defines ‘dispersed’ as: 1. To break up: scatter, 2. To vanish or cause to vanish: dispel, 3. To disseminate, as in knowledge.

The first two definitions can have some negative connotations, especially when we are talking about a group of people. The third definition, however, offers some interesting possibilities.

Let us collect some facts and lay them on the table:

· The Leader of the Community of the Gospel is Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
· Jesus is with us each and every moment of the day. We can meet him in prayer, study and service to others. He is in us through the Holy Spirit, and he is in others we meet.

Well, if each of us is in regular contact with our leader, then Webster’s definitions #1 and #2 don’t apply. We are not dispersed. We are united each and every moment of each and every day. Every time you offer a Daily Office or enter a lectio session, or serve another person, you are in very close contact with our Community. [It helps to use the plural ‘we’ and ‘our’ during our prayer sessions, instead of ‘I’ and ‘me’.] When we offer our Daily Offices and our service to others, we do it together, as one body in Christ. And, as children of God, our spiritual selves are always connected to each other. Physical objects can be separated by time and distance. Spiritual entities, like the real you and me, can not be separated – we are always united, always connected. This is the ‘glue’ that holds us together as a community.

So, spiritually (and that is what matters the most) we are in constant connection. We are spiritually cloistered. We are not broken up or scattered.

Physically, we make connections as a Community through:
· Telephone conversations
· E-mails
· Convocations
· Letters and cards
· Regional and local gatherings as we grow in number and more of us live closer to other members (this is happening already!)

Our Community stretches from coast to coast! We are not broken up or scattered; we are not invisible or dispelled. But we do carry and disseminate the message of Christ’s love and compassion to others we interact with, wherever we are. We use our individual and unique talents to serve others from New York to California. I would say that we are definitely dispersed, but mostly in the sense of Webster’s #3 definition, not #1 or #2.

Please reflect on this during the coming week, and share what you will of your thoughts.

Daniel-Joseph