RBWords - Volume 32 - Number 5: May 2019
Something to Think About
It is difficult to think about anything nowaways except the COVID-19 coronavirus and how to avoid it. One may avoid the illness only to discover that one has had it without knowing and has been spreading it!!! Testing can result in a 14 day quarantine if it is positive, but a negative result is only good for the day it occurs! The elderly (like me at 77) and those with “underlying or chronic health conditions” are told to stay home. For us Catholics, that means Mass by livestream if at all. Communion may be distributed, as it is here at the university parish where I live, in a parking lot organized for the purpose of drive-by reception. Travel becomes nearly impossible. I have stayed home since March 17 and left for the first and only times recently for routine medical appointments. I will be staying home until it is safe to venture out. The parish campus is large enough to allow me to walk safely in the mornings without fear of infection. I wear a face mask and observe what is strangely called “social distancing” if someone wishes to see me. I know this is the common experience of millions now.
The economic and political impact, of course, fills the news reports. National leadership has been less helpful than it could be, and the state leadership has been not much better. Our bishop here has been very cautious and common-sensical. We are dispensed from the Sunday obligation until further notice. We are just beginning to have Mass with a congregation during the week, with livestreaming on Sunday only. Much is being left to the local pastors as long as they follow the local health rules of masks and social distancing and crowd sizes. No communion under both kinds or Sign of Peace or misalets or singing.
The usual Springtime celebrations of graduations, First Communions and Confirmations and weddings, etc etc. have all been postponed to safer times. When loved ones are infected and hospitalized, visiting becomes very difficult and if there is a death, travel to the funeral becomes difficult if it can happen at all. There is a lot of internet humor about it, but we all wonder what the “next normal” will be like. It is a test of our faith, our health and our common sense, not to mention our political and economic fabric. May God help us get through it. AMEN. IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
It Has Been Said
“Jesus, the Blessed One, mourns. Jesus mourns when his friend Lazarus dies (see John 11:33-36); he mourns when he overlooks the city of Jerusalem, soon to be destroyed (see Luke 19:41-44). Jesus mourns over all losses and devastations that fill the human heart with pain. He grieves with those who grieve and sheds tears with those who cry……We too must mourn if we hope to experience God’s consolation.”
Henry Nouwen, BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY – A DAYBOOK OF WISDOM AND FAITH.