For those of us who grew up in the South, we are accustomed to the question "Are you saved?" The question further asks "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?" That second question is a good enough beginning regarding salvation in Christ Jesus. Jesus does want to save us and have a personal relationship with each of us.
We can say that having a personal relationship with Christ is salvation. (See John 17:3 HERE) ) We must understand, however, that a "personal relationship" with Christ Jesus includes the Mystical Body of Christ the Church.
The Scriptures teach us that the Church is the corporate Body of Christ. St. Paul writing to a specific church says: "Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27) To the Church in Colossae he says about Christ: "He is the head of the body, the church." (Colossians 1:18). The early Church spoke about the "whole Christ," meaning Christ the Head and his Body the Church. The Catechism mentions this teaching several times; for example, "Christ and his Church thus together make up the 'whole Christ' (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ." (Catechism# 795) (See also in this blog, May 22, 2014: "The Risen Body of Christ and the Church" HERE)
In the teaching of the Catholic Church, one cannot have Christ without his Body the Church. Yes, we are to have a personal relationship with Christ, but Catholics (and really all Christians) are called to a personal relationship with the whole Christ, with Christ and his Church. Thus, "all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body." (Catechism#846); and
"To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is 'the world reconciled.'" (Catechism#845)
Examining the Catechism of the Catholic Church about Catholic teaching on salvation reveals a key Scripture verse that guides the discussion about being saved; it is John 11:52: "Jesus was to die for the [Jewish] nation–and not only for this nation, but to gather together the scattered children of God." Thus Jesus is "the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep," (Jn. 10:11); but "the wolf" [the devil and the forces of evil] comes "to snatch and scatter them." (Jn. 10:12)
We could sum up, then, how the Church defines salvation: "Sin scatters, but Jesus gathers." This is salvation: to be gathered by Christ into his "gathering," into his flock, into his family, into his Body, that is, into his Church. He does not save us just as individuals united to him alone, but as a people united to one another in him. "We are God’s People, the sheep of his flock." (Psalm 100)
"For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws man [humankind] to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all people, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this...God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior." (CCC#1)
God draws us, that is "tugs at us" with an almost irresistible, yet always gentle and respectful attraction to seek, know, and love him. God is calling each of us by name, but also God calls us together, as the Catechism says. God wants us to gather us together, because we are "scattered and divided by sin."
In Eucharistic Prayer III of the Mass, we pray: Father, "you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising od the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name."
The place where the perfect offering is made, i.e., the Sacrifice of the Mass, is especially celebrated at the Sunday Mass. The first act of the Mass is the gathering of God’s People together. This gathering is a witness to how God saves us. This is why we must come together on Sunday (the obligation we have to attend Sunday Mass every Sunday); we cannot be God’s People by being too solitary.
There is a time for solitude; but Sunday is the Day that we gather as God’s People and remember that we belong to one another.
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