February 26

Isaiah 51:1 – 3

Link to Bible Verses: Isaiah 51

Community: To what communities do you belong?

This passage in Isaiah makes me think about the Communion of Saints because of the call to look toward ancestors and toward the rocks and quarries of our origins.

I love the Communion of Saints! But my understanding of the Communion tends to be pretty expansive and is not limited to official saints. My communion includes everyday people I have loved and lost. In fact, I don’t remember the Communion of Saints being on my radar until after my mom died when I was 29 and she was 57. As my heart began resurfacing after the initial intensity of grief, I found myself needing to believe I could still be in communion—in community—with Mom; I needed something to hold onto because I couldn’t imagine facing the rest of my life without her. But coming from my very head-only, Presbyterian background, I felt the need to explain away that belief as something akin to “fulfilling psychological and emotional needs by creating fantasies.”

About six months after Mom died, I was visiting with Sr. Ellen, one of Mom’s closest friends who was a Franciscan sister. Sr. Ellen began talking about conversations she’d had with Mom since her death, pointing to a picture of Mom on her refrigerator and saying, “I love the Communion of Saints!” The way she spoke made it clear that she assumed I’d also been talking with Mom. I felt my entire being relax and light up! My belief wasn’t fantasy! I felt consoled by the ease with which Sr. Ellen talked about communing with someone beyond the veil. Sr. Ellen’s comfort with an expansive communion allowed me to settle into communing with Mom, accessing the love that comes only from a mom, a love powerful enough to flow freely through the veil. How expansive is your community?

Thank you to Linda Land-Closson for writing our 2026 Lenten Devotions.