Christ the keystone

Roman architects knew the importance of the keystone, the center block that took pressure from both sides of the arch. The center block had to be strong enough to withstand the pressure of the two sides; it was the ‘glue’ that held them both together, making them one.

Take away the keystone and the arch would not stand. St. Paul referred to Jesus Christ as the “keystone” (Eph 2:20) on which the whole of Christianity rests.

Christians understand the left portion of the arch to signify Judaism (on the foundation of the prophets) and the right side Christianity, with Christ in the center.

Therefore the “shoot” from the “stump of Jesse” that Isaiah prophesied (Isa 11:1) is the Messiah, the one Isaiah referred to as “Emmanuel” or “God-with-us” (Isa 7:14).

The beginning and the end

Ancient Christian tradition proposes that Jesus was conceived (The Feast of the Annunciation) and crucified and died on the same day–March 25th–signifying He is indeed the beginning and the end (Rev 22:13).

Where is He?

So after Christ’s resurrection and later ascension into heaven, where does that leave Christians today?

Is the Word-Made-Flesh still “with us” as He promised?

Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).

And just before His ascension into heaven, He told also them, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).

So where is He?

He is in the seven sacraments–especially uniquely in the Holy Eucharist and in the Precious Blood.

He is also here through the power of the Holy Spirit who enlightens us to gratitude, generosity and true Christian love (which survives only in the truth).

Christian fellowship

But He also resides where people most forget, which reveals what the culture in the United States lacks the most today: within Christian fellowship.

This glaring reality shows up in the loneliness all around us–a symptom of the self-inflicted isolation that comes with a society that covets self-sufficiency and material comforts as the highest good.

Both are barriers to Christian fellowship.

Jesus must have thought it was pretty high on the scale of priorities if His commandment to His disciples at the Last Supper was distilled to one sentence that involved loving others: Love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34).

“There am I in the midst…”

That is how He explicitly teaches them to pass on the secret to His “Emmanuel”.

Just as Jesus was physically there with His disciples, He is still here in the midst of true Christian fellowship:

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20).

By telling them this, Jesus is guaranteeing His presence in a palpable and unique way for those who gather together in love.

The power of Christian fellowship is apparent to those who ask for others to pray for them. There is strength in numbers, and the presence of Jesus in His promise certifies the efficacy of their prayer.

Clearly Christianity is not meant to be an isolating lone-wolf ‘me and Jesus’ religion.

“The Fellowship of the Ring”

I will close by drawing a comparison using one of my favorite books, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.

Tolkien called the organized effort between all the races of Middle Earth to destroy the Ring of Power, “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

As a Catholic Christian himself, he ingeniously drew a parallel of the strength in numbers Jesus described with the friendship between its members; each member of the “Fellowship” was valued and loved.

Conversely, Gollum, the wretched lonely creature who was once a Hobbit himself, sought to save the Ring for a different reason. He desired it with green-eyed obsession and sought to get it back throughout the entire saga. He also preferred to live in isolation and darkness.

In the end, the Fellowship of the Ring prevailed because of the abiding strength and the bond between its members.

And the lone-wolf endeavors of Gollum resulted in his own self-destruction.

Tolkien’s epic tale illustrates one beautiful truth: We all need our own “fellowships” in this life to survive it without destroying ourselves.

We need the benefits of their strength, the medicine of fraternal correction, the bolstering binding love between its members, and the power of forgiveness when one of them fails.

We are born into a “fellowship” at the beginning of our lives (a family) and God asks us to strive to maintain some form of fellowship through Christian brotherhood/sisterhood until the end of our lives–because they will be the ones who help us get to heaven.

Heaven…a place of inexpressible joy and love of God, basking in the fellowship of the saints and angels.

“But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,

then we have fellowship with one another…” (1 John 1:7).

Holy Innocents, on your feast day, pray for us.