the meaning of the word communio

In the first place, we must remember that 'communion' between men and women is only possible when embraced by a third element. In other words, common human nature creates the very possibility that we can communicate with one another. We are not only nature but also persons such a way that each person represents a unique way of being human different from everyone else. Therefore, nature alone is not sufficient to communicate the inner sensibility of persons. If we want to draw another distinction between individuality and personality, then we could say that individuality divides and being a person opens. Being a person is by nature being related. But why does it open? Because both in its very depths and in its highest aspirations being a person goes beyond its own boundaries toward a greater, universal 'something' and even toward a greater, universal 'someone.' The all-embracing third, to which we return so often, can only bind when it is greater and higher than individuals. On the other hand, the third is itself within each individual because it touches each one from within. Augustine once described this as 'higher than my heights, more interior than I am to myself.' This third, which in truth is the first, we call God. We touch ourselves in him. Through him and only through him, a communio which grasps our own depths comes into being.

Joseph Ratzinger, Communio: A Program, in Communio - International Catholic Review, Washington, D.C., Fall 2002.