Dear Parishioners,
It has been a tough week starting with Mother’s day on
Sunday. My mom is in a nursing home in Pennsylvania that
is locked down. She doesn’t have a phone. My sister visited
her through the window a couple of weeks ago. It was
difficult not talking with her on the phone or in person. These times have brought unusual sacrifices to us. But as I
look back on Easter, there was a part of Lent and Holy Week
that was made real by our dealing with this deadly virus. We
were not only giving up chocolate or TV. We were making a
greater sacrifice for the greater good, for the common good. I
was not doing my normal routine for the sake of my
vulnerable granddaughter and for those others who are
vulnerable. While we were remembering Christ’s passion
and death, there were numbers being counted of people who
were in fact dying.
The recent events in our country and the
world in fact, make this living real and our choices, serious. I
am sorry, but I am not one that sees this as a hoax or as, “just
like the ordinary flu.” This has been a case of unprecedented
sacrifice and restriction with great consequences for families
and communities, especially in terms of the healthcare system and the economy. We have been given the example of Christ to carry us along the way. We had the Church with
its rituals and deep history as an aid to help us make sense of
what was happening. We were accompanied by Christ in a
real way as we experienced an emotional reaction to events
outside of our control, not knowing where this was going.
Easter morning still came with its beautiful and powerful
realization of the empty tomb. Even in our difficulties, in our
uncertainties, our anxieties and fears, we were reminded that
God is still present to us. It was still clear that we are His
children, that we still have the Church helping us to work
through our sufferings, joining with us, and giving us
comfortable and familiar words and actions to hold on to.
The truth is that God still offers us his consolation and love, his care and mercy, no matter what the challenge. The words are different, the events different, the cause different, but Christ has always walked with us in our needs and uplifted us in our darkness. This season of Easter is perhaps a more powerful example of that everlasting truth.
Blessings,
Deacon Steve
