If step one was a vertical beam coming from heaven to you, then step two is a horizontal beam…going from you to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Place them together and you have the perfect symbol of Christianity…the CROSS!
Man was not created to be alone. We have a heart overflowing with longing for God that will be completely fulfilled when we reach heaven, but meanwhile we need Him with skin on…we need each other.
I love the parable of the The Long Spoons .
The moral of the story is that we need each other. I often have good and faithful friends tell me about how they get wonderful insights on how to bless others, and they are able to give amazing advice which sometimes leaves them feeling perplexed as to where it even came from. I have experienced the same thing myself. And yet when it comes to our own lives, the most basic of things completely eludes us. It’s as if a blindness covers our eyes. I will sometimes be speaking to a friend, and when they mention a particular thing I’ll be like ‘well…duhhh…why didn’t I think of that’…lol. Well…there is a reason why we don’t. We were given ‘long spoons’. We were meant to have our pressing needs met by others, and then have enough humility to accept from others what we can’t do for ourselves also. That is Christianity at it’s best. We receive grace, love and inspiration from our heavenly Father and we pass it on. We become vehicles of grace!
I really believe that this is the importance behind the whole ‘become as little children’ and humility teachings of the Church. Yes, these teachings are helpful for accepting Christ and acquiring salvation…but they are also imperative in communing with Christ in the flesh. Allowing Him to feed us in the here and now…by seeing Him in our brothers and sisters, not only those that need to be fed…but to be accepting of those that can feed us.
Personally, this is part of what is so wrong with the liberal agenda. They place all of this in the government’s hands. It is anti Christian! It steals from us the graces that come our way by personally helping others.