Our world recently experienced the COVID pandemic whose debilitating effects are still being felt.

 

But there is a new epidemic spreading in our country, one for which there is no vaccine. There is an epidemic of loneliness.

 

Last year, the US Surgeon General stated, “In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness…Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.” (The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community 2023)

 

As humans, we need to be connected with other people; it is part of our DNA. In the first pages of the Bible, we are told that God looked at the man he created and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

 

We were made to be connected to other people. That is why we marry, make friends, join clubs and organizations, participate in group sports, interact through social media, etc.

 

But we were also made to be connected to God. That is why God made man in his image and likeness. That is why God walked in the Garden with the man and woman he had created (Genesis 3:8). That is why God sent his Son to invite humanity to have an everlasting relationship with him.

 

Jesus emphasizes that connection in this Sunday’s Gospel (John 15:1-8). There Jesus speaks of himself as “the true vine” that the Father planted in this world. To be spiritually alive, we need to be connected to that vine.

 

As Jesus says, “Remain in me…I am the vine, you are the branches.” Without a connection to him, our spirits begin to shrivel. As Jesus warns us, “Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.”

 

We remain in Jesus by participating in Mass and receiving Holy Communion. As Jesus tells us, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (John 6:56).

 

We remain in Jesus by taking his word to heart and following his commandments. As he tells us, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10).

 

We remain in Jesus by being part of the Church, the living Body of Christ. As Paul tells us, “We, though many, are one body in Christ” (Romans 12:5).

 

When we remain connected to Jesus in these ways, our lives “bear much fruit.” Fruit that Saint Paul describes as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).

 

Perhaps today’s epidemic of social loneliness is more severe and damaging than ever since it comes at a time when so many people are spiritually lonely and disconnected from Jesus, the true vine.

 

We need to be connected to one another and connected to the Lord.

 

© 2024 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski