Yesterday I was so happy to attend the First Holy Communion of my little friend Joey, in the hills of the Silicon Valley. Following the mass, there was a celebration for him and three other little friends--Lucia, Giacomo, and Gabriela--who also had their First Communions.

The entire community pitched in to make for a stunning day in the park: the decorations were elegant, the food exquisitely prepared. This was not your typical cook-out by any means! There were old friends and new, a mix of colleagues, family members, and CL folks, eating, singing, talking. It was a sort of “Solomon’s Portico” moment of shared life, where passer-byers would ask, “but who are those people?”

Beauty was everywhere, but what struck me the most was a little box on the table.

As the party began, Damian, Joey’s father and the leader of the Community, lead the singing of the Regina Caeli. He then told us about the little box.

He told us that Fr. Ibrahim, from Aleppo, Syria, was praying for the four children at his mass that Sunday morning, as his city was under siege. We’ve all seen the news this week: the collapse of the Syrian truce, the bombing of Al Quds and two other hospitals, airstrikes, barrel bombs, machine guns used to destroy schools, homes, and lives. Aleppo, and the Catholic Church there, is being ravaged by war and Fr. Ibrahim is praying for four children, playing in the park in Saratoga, CA.

These four families, in gratitude for their lives, faith, and Sacramental life begun by their kids, wanted to share their gratitude with the suffering part of the family in Syria. As I looked at the little box, stuffed with checks and bills, gratitude for this communio overwhelmed me; this partnership in Christ that binds us to one another, so much so that despite distance or time or frailties, we share everything.

The pages we are reading in these weeks in School of Community come in mind, as this is really a “new type of life,” one in which the very structure of our relationship is determined by something Great, so great as to overcome even the greatest of sacrifices.

Fr. Ibrahim is praying for Lucia, Giacomo, Joey and Gabriela. We are praying for Syria.