I am so well aware of how little I really know or understand.  

Leafing through some recent issues of Science and Nature underline the truth of such awareness.  All Greek to me are such titles as Antidiabetic actions of a non-agonist PPAR ligand blocking Cdk5-mediated phosphorylation or On-demand single-electron transfer between distant quantum dots.  Furthermore, I am totally dependent on so many people be they doctors, mechanics, dentists, pilots, cooks, plumbers or accountants.

I suppose that, one way or another, we'll all in the same boat.  Our world has become so complicated that no one person, let alone one nation, can ever assume self-sufficiency. 

We need each other. 

Teamwork is a sine qua non in almost all scientific endeavors.   All scientific papers published in Science and Nature now include a breakdown of who did what in each project.  It often takes a large team to conceive the project, design and carry out the experiments, analyze the data, and write the manuscript.  Author lists citing 50 to 100+ workers from a host of nations and institutions are not uncommon these days.  That's one of the beauties of science – it's a corporate effort. 

When it comes to salvation, the need for others is even more obvious.  At least, that's the theory.  So often, however, we think that we can do it alone, that our personal efforts will save the day. 

The Church's insistence on weekly attendance at Mass, however, underscores the need for corporate salvation.  We're in it together, the poor and the rich, the lame and the strong, the bright and the dull.  Believe it or not, we all need each other.  We need to hear the mighty Amen of the crowd.  We need to join others with hands outstretched longing for the saving body and blood of Jesus Christ. 

As a priest, I need to be with others at Sunday Mass. Sure, I can do a "private Mass" so to speak, but what use is that.  There is really no such thing as a "private Mass" as all Masses are the work of the Body of Christ.  In fact, the Church states that Mass should not be celebrated without a minister, or at least one of the faithful, except for a just and reasonable cause.  I remember well, during my early years in the Society, large communities with a series of private altars for Jesuits celebrating their daily Mass alone.  No wonder people came to joke that there's nothing more useless than a Jesuit at Easter. 

I am the vine and you are the branches, Jesus says.  We are the body of Christ – that perduring image coined by St. Paul. 

We're saved together.  We pray for each other.  We forgive each other.  We gather on Sunday one with each other. 

So, the next time, I get the urge to study the workings of quantum dots and phosphorylation, I'll, no doubt, need a competent team.  On my journey in and through God, I'll again call upon a team – a different team, perhaps, but a team nonetheless.