April 12, 2020 - "Easter 2020"

Christ is risen, alleluia!  He has risen indeed, alleluia!  Happy Easter everyone. 
 
I am actually writing this column at the beginning of Holy Week.  At this time, the coronavirus pandemic has now infected 1.2 million people globally with 330,000 in the U.S., and 69,000 deaths worldwide.  I suspect that when you read this, the numbers will be much higher.  The Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, said that this pandemic rivals some of the darkest moments in U.S. history, including the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the September 11 ^th terrorist hijackings.  Surgeon General Adams went on to say that it was not going to be localized.  It will be happening all over the country.  He wanted America to understand that.
 
It is profoundly sad for me that we won’t be able to celebrate Easter together in church.  I really wish that this would be possible.  But we have to keep the church closed in order to promote the health and well-being of our brothers and sisters, especially the frail and the elderly.
 
People have asked me, where is God in all of this?  How can we make sense of what has been happening to us in the last few months?
 
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, recently published a reflection at the beginning of Holy Week that addresses some of these sentiments and fears fairly well.  Let me quote what he wrote:
 
“In a moment like this we know deep in our hearts that there is only One who can help us.  We need a superhero.  We need God to come to the rescue and fix this situation, like a genie in a bottle who will grant our wish.  But where is God anyway?  Why has God, if God is out there at all, allowed this to happen?  And why didn’t he fix things when we asked?
 
“Maybe we should start by not casting a blaming eye at God.  Maybe we ought to start looking within.  Not to say that this is caused by us.  We are not that powerful.  But look within to recognize the truth about ourselves—that we have lived an illusion.  We, in the USA, were not in control after all.  Consuming would never fill the emptiness in our hearts.  No amount of drugs, legal or otherwise, no amount of alcohol, no amount of food, no amount of porn or sex, no amount of money will fill that place within us that is reserved for the love of our Creator.”

We can find the penance of being confined to our homes to be very challenging.  How can we make good use of this time at home with the right attitude and in a truly productive manner?  Pope Francis has made a few suggestions for this in his remarks for Holy Week:
 
“It is a difficult time for everyone. For many, very difficult. The Pope knows this and, with these words, he wants to tell everyone of his closeness and affection. Let us try, if we can, to make the best use of this time: let us be generous; let us help those in need in our neighborhood; let us look out for the loneliest people, perhaps by telephone or social networks; let us pray to the Lord for those who are in difficulty in Italy and in the world. Even if we are isolated, thought and spirit can go far with the creativity of love. This is what we need today: the creativity of love. This is what is needed today: the creativity of love.”
 
Yes indeed, brothers and sisters, today we celebrate Easter.  Satan thought that he had won.  He thought that he had killed off the Son of God.  But as we all know, the Resurrection of Jesus was not about flesh and blood.  Instead the Resurrection of Our Lord is about pure, unconditional, all-forgiving, all-embracing love that can never be confined to a tomb.  Today we are invited to unite ourselves more deeply with Christ, knowing full well that it involves uniting us in his death.  It also means facing the constant challenges and chaos of life.  The end-game is being united with Christ in eternal glory.
 
Christ is risen, alleluia!  He is risen indeed, alleluia!
 
Until next week,
Fr. John