One of Large Company ...

Well-known Christian apologist and writer, Josh McDowell, once said:

When it comes to my salvation, all I need is Jesus; after my salvation, everything is Jesus plus the church… When people preach that all you need is Jesus, they cut you and I off from one of the greatest sources of healing, which is the body of Christ. Don’t go it alone – you won’t make it.

In other words, our faith in Christ as our Savior is what saves us but, we were not created just to be saved.

We were also created to be part of the body of Christ – the church.

If we live as part of the church then we find the help and healing we often need, especially when we are beaten and downtrodden.

If we live apart from the church – an island unto ourselves — we are exposed to danger and an inability to get help when we need it most.

This aspect of Christian living is one of the most important lessons we teach here at St. Francis.

We want our students to be safe and successful in life and they need each other to do so.

Cardinal Newman said it best when he remarked, “We all suffer for each other, and gain by each other’s suffering; for man never stands alone here, though he will stand alone hereafter; but here is he is a social being, and goes forward to his long home as one of a large company.”

So, let us suffer as one of a large company so that we might heal as one of a large company — as individuals, and as the church.