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Why Community? God invites. 28 Apr 2022

God asks me to build community.

Discernment

As soon as I express an important thought, it may need discernment. Is it God speaking? Is it my own desire? Or does the idea come from others, including the Devil. When the thought is addressed to other persons, they as well need to discern how it may affect them.

As soon as I say, "I feel that Gods says to me or us Build Community (or anything else)" , the believing community is supposed and required to discern. Is it really God speaking through this person? Are all the words coming form God or did the speaker distort the message?
First of all, I myself need to seek discernment. Is it true? To whom should I speak? Where and when should I speak. Speaking to the wrong persons, at the wrong time or at the wrong place may cause confusion and trouble.
When I feel that God urges me to speak, I shall. Sure, I can make mistakes. In the worst case the 'prophet' may be killed for using the name of God idle.
When the message affects my own life seriously, I need to check with the people involved. My wife, my spiritual director, my priest. Usually I as well consult my family and my friends. Anyway, they need to know sooner or later. They may be offended when I do not inform them.

Verification

There are some easy checks:
a) Is the message in agreement with the Bible? God continuously brings or calls people together. Israel, is a first example. The acts of the apostles starts with great stories of communities of believers. Would not the Kingdom of God be a community? We are called to care for the needy.
b)Is it in agreement with the teaching of the Church? In my opinion the three most recent Popes call frequently towards community. The church does however not command us to be a strong community. I believe that the church hopes that we build strong caring communities.
c) Is it loving? Is it wise? Those two requirements only can be guaranteed by actively living out them as values. No, it is not always wise to love and care. But the need for love my overrule the need for human wisdom.

Discovering my Call

It grew little by little. I can't even remember. Especially with prayer, I often had the impression: "Build Community". It makes sense to me. I feel attracted to the idea. I desire community.

Prayer

Jesus, I ask you to guide people around me to discern my and their call towards community.

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