Posted on 04/11/2020 4:28:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
My office is just a few blocks from St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. So, on a good day, I get to church when it opens at 6:30, attend the 7 a.m. Mass, maybe go to confession if it's time, pray my morning prayers and give Jesus a little time to say whatever He has in mind for me for the day. Because there is a Mass every half-hour through 8, I sometimes happen to be present for three Masses.
But this Holy Week, with public Masses unavailable, that three-Mass record is history. On the other hand, I get notifications now on my phone and laptop for livestream Masses. Around when the coronavirus quarantine got serious, I would find myself not going to sleep until Pope Francis' Mass at Santa Marta in the Vatican.
It drives me a little crazy when we say Masses are canceled. Priests are still celebrating Masses. And this spiritual communion business is real.
On Palm Sunday, I happened to pray the Mass in Rome, on Fifth Avenue, a few blocks from the White House and in Phoenix. You can go to some websites with some incredible lists -- pray the Mass in Knock, Ireland, if you choose.
Praying remotely is one thing. But it's impossible to digitally receive the act of communion. But from day one of this inability to receive the Eucharist, I've become more and more keenly aware of my own unworthiness. Think about it: The creator of the world sends His only son to die for me so that I might have eternal life. It's absurd that I could ever deserve such a thing. I'm a weak human being, with all kind of flaws. But that's the magnificence of Holy Week and Easter, and way beyond. We have been made by Love, chosen to be gifted a faith that transcends whatever is going on in the world -- this gives meaning to all the suffering, this raises us up to greatness, because our lives do not depend on us overcoming every human flaw, but trusting in a creator who does the most amazing things for us in this valley of tears.
Now, I recognize that this isn't what everyone believes. But, gosh, when you have someone who truly believes this as a friend or neighbor, that's not a bad deal. When we truly believe, we can be good friends and neighbors. We could even amaze you with our love.
Don't we see it now, during this anxious time? A UPS driver delivered to me a package the other day. He seemed to want to smile, with the brightest of smiles. He seemed to want to show, simply by saying "Good morning," that there is hope -- he has hope -- that we need to be careful, but we also need to live and love one another.
Like many of us, I know people who have died, who have lost someone, who have fought and recovered from COVID-19. My life is made possible by people who haven't ceased putting themselves in harm's way. If there is only one thing that we learn from this quarantine time, may it be that everything good is a gift, and we are so much closer to one another and to the creator of us all than we realize when we are sucked up in the busyness of everyday life. If we are to learn anything from this fraught time, it must be a conscious decision, a choice. And it's a choice between the soul's life and death.
We know what we want, don't we?
Trying to deal with the Real Absence
Our pastor did a great introduction to our online Good Friday service.
Something like; “So - this is our first ever Good Friday Service where we aren’t able to worship together. Things in the world are all disrupted, we are isolated, things aren’t what we thought they would be. But maybe that is the perfect way to approach this Good Friday.
The disciples on Good Friday had gone into hiding. Their hope in a new King hadn’t gone the way they expected. And Jesus Himself. Isolated, alone, and not the way He wanted things to be. (”Father, take this burden from me, but your will be done...”)
On Palm Sunday our preacher talked about how he thought Saturday should be part of Holy Week. “Much/most/all of Life is Saturday for us. We are living in that space where all of our hopes and dreams and success have been killed. A place of heartache. And even more so this year. But it is also a time of Hope - because we know that Jesus arose from the dead, and IS King and Sovereign over all!”
We in the continental United States were spared invasion and bombing in WWII, the Korean and Vietnam and the latest wars have only involved the barest minimum of people and we, for the most part, have been spared any nationally serious crises.
Now we have one and for many, it's the End of The World to have to stay home and isolated.
To quote my fellow Former Marines, "suck it up, buttercup!" We have a duty to ourselves, our families, our neighbors to beat this foul disease and if it takes some suffering, we have to endure it.
I miss my daily Masses - but our parish sends out our Lenten devotions and Masses on YouTube and for now, that will have to do.
Guess what we will have 'accepted' after this is over...
The pope said his god “Gaia” is angry at us. I caught this response online: From Rebecca: “Frank, Look Man, you are a PREACHER it’s all you are supposed to be. You are supposed to preach the Gospel according to Jesus not some new age, weirded out hippified, climate change, sci-fi garbage. All you are called to do is tell folks about Jesus and love them. Thats it”.
Bump
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We were able to pick up the elements this week and have communion today. Our home was filled with song and praise. We were united by The Spirit that needs no building.
At first it felt like we were in China, but then we started to sing. It was actually quite amazing.
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