Belonging
- Ellen Romer Niemiec
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
To whom do I belong?
As someone who resonates deeply with community and has found community to be quite life-giving, the idea of where I belong is not unimportant. Off the cuff, I would say I belong to my family, to my children and spouse. I belong to God, to my faith community. I belong to my friends, to those who have walked and grown with me over years and with whom I get the privilege to grow with. My belonging matters to me. It has helped to shape my identify, my priorities. It helps me know where to go to comfort and support, for joy and celebration. It shapes how I grieve and rejoice. My belonging - anyone’s belonging - matters.
And yet this question of belonging and the way it creates divisions seems to still be the same problem it was for St. Paul and the people of Corinth. Too many of my neighbors and people I care about are seen as ‘not belonging’ and are made vulnerable, targeted by authorities because they don’t seem to belong here. Because the rules of belonging change at any given moment. Because not belonging for whatever reason justifies harm, suffering and even death. It has become too easy for so many of us to forget that we all belong to God and to one another. That a document - even a baptismal one - does not change that we were each created in the image and likeness of God.
Are we heading into Mass this weekend with any sense of belonging to one another? And not just to those standing next to us but to those afraid to leave their homes? To those who have so deeply forgotten their belonging to God and one another that they are willing to do such deep harm to their brothers and sisters? When we hear Jesus call the disciples today to be fishers of people, they leave their nets behind. They are not called to trap and catch but to gather in, to heal, cure and preach the good news. Likewise, so we are called to share in this beloved belonging, to bring in all people - all people - and cure every illness and disease among us, especially those that continue to divide us into who belongs and who does not.
To whom do we belong?
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