One of the improvements, in my opinion, in the revised translation of the Missal, is in the opening greeting: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
The earlier greeting used fellowship, a word that refers to companionship or association. Communion is much richer and has a depth of theological meaning. The Latin phrase is “communicatio Sancti Spiritus” which, even if one does not know Latin, clearly suggests the action of the Holy Spirit.
Our communion is not, fundamentally, the result of our efforts. It is gift from God though the work of the Spirit. At the heart of the Gospel, is the message and person of Jesus calling us into a new set of relationships, with God and with one another.
In the synoptic gospels, Jesus calls us to be family. He says that “whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother.” He teaches us to pray “our Father.”
Paul in his 1st letter to the Corinthians uses the image of a human body with its diverse parts as an image of Church. Many parts but one life principle. In the Eucharistic prayer, we pray that “we, who are nourished by the body and blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.”
In the Gospel according to John, Jesus prays at the last supper “that they all may be one. As you, Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.” (18:21)
This union with each other and with Christ in the Father is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a work of grace, that is, the gift of God.
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