I am sure when I was a youth that I went to my mother for many things — food, help with clothes, compassion when hurt, etc. WE all depend on our mothers for many things, from the moment we are conceived and for the rest of eternity. There can be many ways that our Blessed Mother Mary can help us as well and hopefully we depend on her for many things as well.
In light of the suspensions of public worship, may Catholics have asked, “Am I required to watch Mass?” in other words, is it a sin to not try to attend virtually, since it is impossible to go to Mass in person.
The first reading for this Second Sunday of Easter from St. Paul, is very appropriate for us during this time of pandemic. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.
Easter is new life! Easter is the story of Jesus rising from the dead as a sign of hope and promise for all who live in Christ. Easter this year will be with no Eucharist for most in our parish and world, but that does NOT mean it will be without Jesus. He is risen! He is alive!
I remember a time in my first three years of priesthood, when I was in campus ministry at the University of Kansas. At the age of 26, I was pretty much a peer with some of the students. We related very well and could be pretty honest and blunt with each other. In one particular discussion, I must have been complaining about what my pastor was wanting me to do (something I am sure Fr. Kenn can relate to), and one of the students told me that I needed “to get off my cross”.
Part of our Christian faith is the belief that our unity and community with each other in Christ is so real, so deep, so physical, and so mutually interdependent that we constitute not a cluster of different parts, but something organic and living.
Just as in any physical body there are visible aspects that can be observed with the naked eye, there are other more invisible aspects that go on under the surface and escape simple observation.
It is the same with the body of Christ.
Not knowing what is happening day by day, I am not sure what to write about, but in my 53 years of life and 27 years as a priest, this is unprecedented. It is weird and new for us all as Sunday Mass is cancelled, or you are choosing to not attend for good reason, remember that the Church is still at prayer. Abbeys of monks and nuns are carrying on their unabated rhythms of prayers. Raising their hearts and minds to God in the psalms and Holy Mass, the Church’s contemplatives continue their exalted vocation of interceding for the faithful.
When do you think of God? Whether this thought is in praise or whether it is in thanksgiving or even one of complaining, do you recognize The Lord in your midst? The Israelites were in the early stages of their 40-year journey in the desert and they have begun to quarrel amongst themselves and Moses, complaining of many things. They even tested God, asking whether he was even present. Why? Because they were not receiving what they thought they needed, but it was really about what they wanted.
It’s one of those things we know to be true on an intellectual level, but we forget it easily in personal experience. Temptation is not the same as sin.