Almost any music fan recognizes that the Beatles are one of the greatest bands of all time. Although none of the four musicians was a virtuoso at his respective instrument, when they came together as a band, they produced songs that influenced almost every rock band that came after. One of the most remarkable things about these musicians, however, is that they never achieved the same success in their solo careers that they did as Beatles. Sure, each former Beatle released a good album here or there, but none ever again saw the same unprecedented run of albums that the Beatles released in the decade of its existence.
It’s hard to explain why the band members couldn’t hit their stride without each other. Each typically stuck to the instrumental parts they knew best, and although at the beginning much of their songs were written collaboratively, by the end of their tenure the Beatles mostly wrote separately and came together only to record. Thus, no specific reason can be given except that the four encouraged each other to play better, even as they performed separate duties for the band.
A baseball fan can recognize the same phenomenon while watching the sport. Baseball is almost an entirely individual game on its face. Each hitter steps up to the box by himself, the pitcher can’t look to anyone for help when he throws the ball, and each fielder performs specific and individualized tasks. In theory, a team with unlimited money should be able to sign the best individual hitters and pitchers available and coast their way to the World Series.
And yet, every fan who has watched the game for long enough knows that this is not the case in reality. Plenty of teams with lineups filled with individual all-stars have fallen apart as the season stretched on, while every few years the World Series is claimed by a team of average players who just somehow clicked. Although it defies all sense, somehow a team of mediocre players can rise above their individual weaknesses when they work well as a team.
Both of these examples point towards a simple truth: a group of people working together for a common good is greater than the sum of its parts. And this truth does not only hold in secular activities like music and sports. It is pivotal to Catholic religious practice as well.
It is for this reason that Jesus did not perform his mission on Earth by himself, although it was in his power to do so. Instead he chose a group of friends to carry out the mission of teaching and preaching with him, and to carry on that mission after his Ascension. And the Apostles’ best moments were when they were gathered together and working in sync, as when they received the first Eucharist and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When separated and acting only for themselves, as when they fled separately from Roman authorities on Good Friday, the Apostles abandoned the faith for their own selfish desires.
Catholics are called to different vocations and jobs in their lives. But whether one serves as a parent, a priest, a teacher, a lawyer, or a janitor, his individual service is made better by uniting it to the rest of the Church. This is why every Sunday, Christians from all walks of life gather together and pray together at their local church, and why every church across the entire world reads the same Scripture passages on any given day. No one can live the spiritual life by themselves, but with the unity of the entire church, Christians are able to share the life that God intends for them.
Featured image courtesy of the Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons
- The Beatles, Baseball, and the Christian Life - April 30, 2021
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