Search
-
April 12, 2020I write this reflection on the eve of Holy Week.
We are in the final week of a Lent unlike anything any of us has ever experienced. The Coronavirus Pandemic has become a National Emergency and has touched every one of us. Schools, restaurants, and many businesses are closed. Public Masses have been suspended. In some places, people cannot leave their homes. Many are enduring economic hardships related to the crisis. It is unlikely that we will experience change for the better any time soon.
Many people have only had access to Lenten liturgies by watching television or live streaming and have been unable to receive the sacraments. Other beloved Lenten practices, like Reconciliation Services, Stations of the Cross, St. Joseph Altars, Distribution of Palms, and even Friday Night Fish Fries, have been canceled or substantially altered in the light of the public health crisis.
We have become socially and even spiritually isolated from our family and Church communities. This has been a different and unforgettable time of penitence for most of us. A friar quoted a social media post: “This has been the Lentiest Lent I have ever Lented.”
On the first Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene walked in the early morning to the tomb in the darkness of her grief and loss after witnessing the shocking events of Good Friday. We walk with her in our own darkness of isolation and suffering. She did not know what to make of the empty tomb. Mary and the apostles would soon come to the realization that something extraordinary and unexpected had happened. Jesus Christ had risen from the dead! Sin and death had been conquered forever!
It is highly unlikely that the restrictions due to the Coronavirus will be lifted by Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. Most of us will be unable to sing the Easter hymns and see the beauty of the churches decorated with lilies in person. We will not be able to receive the Eucharist. For now, suffering, loss, and isolation will still be realities in our lives. But the promise of Easter is a reality in our lives. The glory of Christ’s resurrection replaces the suffering we have endured. Joy will replace sorrow and grief. Death has no more power over us!
After a Lent unlike any we have ever known, will surely come an Easter unlike any we have ever known. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
