Every couple of days, a new batch of trainees arrive at Fort Leonard Wood.

They are often a motley crew of civilians; out-of-step, working at cross-purposes. Even though they're assigned numbers and organized into groups, no drill sergeant would dare say that this collection of humanity forced to live together for a period of time is a community.

A similar situation occurs with a military parish. While a few may remain for many years, trying to preserve some sense of continuity, it isn't long before the majority of the parish has moved on to new assignments or new lives.

About two months after they arrive, that group of civilians that arrived at Fort Leonard Wood has changed. They have learned teamwork. They have learned to co-operate, to share the load. They live together, they eat together. They have made friends. They have become a community.

Trainees don't just "become" a community. It takes work - a lot of work... and not just from those who have guided them, not just from those NCOs and officers who stay to provide the stability and continuity those units need, but from the members of those units - the trainees. Without them, without thier efforts, their work, thier caring, there would be no cohesive unit marching proudly on graduation day. There would be no community there for them.

Community is not a noun . Community is a verb. Community is the work by which we are known. It is harder to build community in a military parish; we travel, we move, we change. Like any basic training unit, most people spend only a short time at a duty station, and then move on.

But like a training unit, we too can build community. All of us. Together.

"For we being many are one bread, and one body..."

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your community. God bless you.