“…and all the other saints who have …”
-GASP!-
Ten people stand up at once and the priest stops the prayer as we all turn to look at the pews on the right.
“IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?”
“I know CPR if you need it!”
A few people stand up and head over to the area. One girl scurries outside the church to get some water, and a man dials 911 on his cell phone.
While I can’t confirm it, I bet 100 prayers are said at once in the next ten minutes.
This is the momentary crisis I watched unfold around me at church on Sunday. Someone must have fainted from the heat in the middle of the service. Once we all stopped gawking, some more helplessly than others, mass resumed while the ambulance came. I believe the person is fine, as the ambulance was still in the parking lot after mass, not rushing to the hospital.
This unexpected moment made me think about the importance of community. This thought is even more poignant as we all face the fear of a world that seems to have gone mad.
Church is such a prime example of a community because it is a family of diverse people, coming together for a shared belief. While we don’t all know each other on a personal level, we know we are part of the same, as we believe, body of Christ, and also in the same human family. When a crisis occurs, we jump into action, each offering our different skills and strengths. In that moment, I witnessed:
- A first responder who called into the congregation for help (Strength: Action in moments of confusion)
- Medical professionals coming forward to offer their services
- A young woman who had the clarity of mind to find a glass of water
- A man who didn’t wait for someone else to call 911
- A crowd of people who directed concern and prayers towards a person they might not know who may or may not have fainted (we couldn’t even see what happened from where we stood).
I don’t think anyone thought about what the person in need looked like, or what they did for a living. In that moment, we just knew that a fellow human needed help.
It was an inspiring realization to see all these talents jump to action to love and care for someone.
A beautiful quality of a community is that the members feel the need to protect each other, even without a personal friendship.
It’s the same reason alumni from the same school who have never met before immediately forge a friendship. It’s the same reason that there are generations of sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. In other words, a shared community is a connection.
So let’s take this as a lesson to keep finding commonalities with each person we meet.
After all, we are all part of the same human community. Let’s take care of each other.
