Friday morning came of course,
and I celebrated the last public Mass for the immediate and foreseeable future –
it was painful, to say the least. It was moving to have a fuller church for a Friday
morning Mass, but that Mass will go on my list of the handful occasions where I
felt that I would nearly not get through the Mass. The people of God were, as
ever, encouraging and the reverence and prayerfulness of Friday’s Mass were beautiful,
never-the-less it was a sad and painful occasion for all of us.
Now, however, we have to get
on with things. The period that our Nation has moved into is unchartered territory.
It seems to me, at least, that we have a choice: we can either moan, get angry
and depressed and complain about the situation or we can learn to live with our
new reality, accept it for what it is and learn how to flourish in these difficult
times. Everyone will suffer in some greater or lesser way in the foreseeable future
- this is happening to all of us. We need to let go of things that we thought
gave our lives security, direction and meaning and use this time well to
rediscover what is important and what is essential.
It’s not all doom and gloom:
families will be forced in many cases to spend more time with each other. There
is only so much TV and the Internet (if the broadband holds up) that people can
cope with so at some point, people will have to relearn how to sit around a
table and talk to each other, play games and read books! Of course, there will
be many of us who are isolated, the sick, the elderly and those who, like me,
live alone. So, it’s important that we connect with each other using all the
technology and resources that are available.
As a priest I am struggling
and will continue to struggle with the inability to do what my very life is
given over to – the public celebration of the Eucharist and the public administering
of the other sacraments, pastoral visits and generally all pastoral contact. It’s
going to be difficult to be a shepherd to a virtual flock. Yet these are
difficulties and struggles which all my brother priests and ministers are going
to struggle with during this time and I feel a strange and new solidarity with
my brothers already beginning to blossom.
As Catholics and as Christians
the coronavirus time can be a real opportunity for us if we allow it. A time to
foster a contemplative heart and re-discover and deepen our relationship with
Jesus. A time to learn the value of silence, immerse ourselves in the Word of
God and do all those spiritual things that we have “put-off” because we are just
too busy.
There are lots of resources and
courses online that can help us form our faith and nourish our relationship with
Jesus, many are now being offered for free and at heavily discounted prices. Dr.
Scott Hahn has put together The Quarantined Catholic Hub:
And
David Payne at Café (Catholic Faith Exploration) is offering lots of courses at
discounted prices www.faithcafe.org
I
am also streaming live Mass and prayers and content from our Facebook page www.facebook.com/bmrcparish
(10
am daily and 11 am on Sunday)
These are going to
be different and difficult times for all of us, but let’s stay positive and
most importantly let us keep our eyes fixed on Christ! Jesus is everything! In this
time of isolation, I pray that we can relearn the important lesson that all our
hope and trust should be placed in Him! We have been overly-comfortable and
self-reliant as a people and a nation for a long time – may we learn and re-learn
dependence on each other and dependence on God. The coronavirus pandemic can be a great opportunity
for all of us, and God will if we let him bring great fruit out of what to
human eyes look like a disaster – and this, of course, is the substance of our
faith. God brings hope out of despair, light out of darkness and resurrection
out of death.
No comments:
Post a Comment