RBWords - Volume 32 - Number 3: March 2019
Something to Think About
Rbwords – Volume 32 – Number 3 – March 2020
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT –
At the end of February, when I was writing the last issue of this newsletter, three good friends took me out to eat to celebrate my birthday. It was Mardi Gras day and Lent would begin the next day! What a Lent our world and church are having!! None of us that evening had any idea what the end of March would be like, with almost everything in creation except sunrise being cancelled, postponed or prohibited because of a virus that was causing trouble across the Pacific Ocean. Now that same virus has altered the social and political landscape of our own country and especially of our church. Masses, even communion and confessions, are being suspended around the country in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease. No more than 10 persons are allowed at weddings or funerals, etc. etc. Here, at Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX, spring break was extended a week and classwork will be resumed only online, probably to the end of the semester and perhaps beyond. Graduation ceremonies have been cancelled.
At our university parish, we Dominican friars are concelebrating daily Mass livestream, Monday through Friday at 5:30PM, and Sunday at 10AM at <raidercatholic.org>. After the brief communion section of the Mass (there are only 5 of us present!), we invite all those joining us online to say a prayer of “spiritual communion.” Ancient church tradition teaches that this is sufficient when a person is impeded from receiving communion. If the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not available, forms of the Perfect Act of Contrition are being made available online as well. We invite everyone to join us in praying that the pandemic will end soon and that the lessons of experience in coping with it will endure. AMEN! IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK (AND PRAY) ABOUT!
It Has Been Said
Almighty ever-living God, eternal health of believers, hear our prayers for your servants who are sick: grant them we implore you, your merciful help, so that, with their health restored, they may give you thanks in the midst of your Church. Through Christ our Lord. AMEN
From the votive Mass for the Sick.