A Joyful Community

A typically laid-back priest once shot up and declared, “Those who say they don’t understand the Rosary do not know the Gospel!” This remark has stayed with me since, and I often find myself diving deeper into the Gospels through my daily Rosary meditations. In meditating on the Gospel over the years, I once found myself asking, “Why?” We learn the meaning of the Gospel, but what is the “Why?” The answer is community. We are all called to community. For Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are all called to belong in a community with others and eventually the communion of saints. The joyful mysteries provide us with an excellent example of how God desires us to be community- minded.

Pillars for any community are a sense of unity and authority. In the First Joyful Mystery, the Annunciation, Mary fully submits to the authority of God, knowing the purpose of Jesus’s coming—to start the communion of saints! We see an extremely young Mary saying, “YES!” to the angel Gabriel. Mary had very few of the facts, and Gabriel revealed to her the awesomeness of Jesus’s future life. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob; and his kingdom will have no end.”¹ Submitting to authority and finding unity are excellent beginnings of any community. Being a devout Jew, Mary knows what the coming of Jesus means for the world and trusts God in His plan for her.

Starting out on this brand-new mission from God, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth in the Second Joyful Mystery. She shows us another pillar of community—charity for others. Having visited family while pregnant myself, I hold Mary in great esteem for traveling to Elizabeth, even though such a journey while pregnant was certainly not convenient. It is while visiting Elizabeth that John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb and Mary’s soul bursts out in the Magnificat, a song of praise and thanksgiving. In it, Mary again foretells the greatness of Jesus for all time.

While the first two mysteries foretell of the community at large– the communion of saints, the Third Joyful Mystery, the Nativity, teaches us that the most important community we have is the domestic church. It is not happenstance or serendipity that there is no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn. Instead, Mary and Joseph find shelter with animals and Jesus is laid in a manger. God layers so much historical and theological meaning onto the humble circumstances of this birth. He reveals to us the importance of family as the smallest and most important unit of community. This reflects the principle of subsidiarity. Just as Mary and Joseph first receive and care for Jesus within their family, we, too, are meant to receive and bring Jesus to our family members first and foremost.

While we are called to steal away with our most intimate family and friends from time to time, the Fourth Joyful Mystery, the Presentation, provides us with balance in the need to continue one’s traditions and rejoin the community at large. The Presentation teems with nuanced symbolism and fulfillment of the Old Testament, but it primarily shows us that Mary and Joseph are devout Jewish parents who adhere to their customs (submitting to authority) and are spiritually ready to rejoin the larger community. It is in this larger gathering that more is foretold of what is to come in Jesus’s life. This act of submission is part of God’s will for their family.

The Fifth Joyful Mystery, Finding Jesus in the Temple, reveals God’s will again, when Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple after being separated from Him for three days. Admittedly, I personally offer a prayer of thanksgiving on each of my children’s thirteenth birthdays. I have yet to lose one for three days! The beginning of the story indicates that Mary and Joseph were a part of a good community. They trust that Jesus was somewhere in the caravan for that first day. We all need to rely on others as much as we give to others. Upon finding Him, Jesus states the obvious when He asks, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”² And here we have come full circle. Just as young Mary gave the angel Gabriel her yes, a twelve-year-old Jesus gives His Father a similar yes when He takes His place in the temple. Jesus steps into His destiny as He takes a step away from His parents, just as Mary took her first step to visit Elizabeth. In any thriving community, individuals must have the freedom to grow into their true selves, and the persons God wants them to be. This growth is essential to the community at large.

We are taught from a young age the meaning of “Gospel.” It is the Good News. But what’s the point of this Good News that is Jesus Christ?  The answer is community. I pray to see you all in the communion of saints someday.

1 Luke 1:32-33, RSV-2CE

2 Luke 2:49b, RSV-2CE

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Dr. Jody Reel, O.P. is a member of the St. Catherine de Ricci Fraternity in Lawrence, KS. She made her Temporary Profession in 2022.

"I was raised in a Capuchin parish and while actively discerning married life, found my faith in questioning everything and learning. I found the Franciscans peaceful and was drawn to that peace, but they drove me nuts! I ran in the other direction towards the Dominicans and found my family there."

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