The full scale rush to believe we are out of the woods continues to astound me. Open it up, demonstrations in the streets, even in states with painfully awful numbers, demands to give us back the Mass, as if the Mass has been hijacked or something, I miss Jesus, as if Jesus is MIA.
Maybe your perspective is different in South Dakota or Wyoming or even a southern state like Arkansas. I live, work, worship, shop, exist in Louisiana. Seen our numbers through this crisis? And I'm not just in Louisiana, I'm less than 60 miles from New Orleans, one of the nations consistent hotspots. I'm also in St. Tammany Parish where the death rate per Coronavirus case is 6.8%. And yes, I do understand how the stats can be deceiving and even manipulated. From this lens, we just ain't ready for much of anything other than stay the course.
And before I'm attacked as anti-economy, as if that takes precedence over life, I'm knee deep in the economy. My entire professional life has been in the financial field, specializing in banking, lending, even credit union management. I think I know the impacts of resurgent unemployment, wild swings with the stock market, depressed sales, yep, I get it and I understand it. For the last month I have talked with folks desperately needing loan deferments and extensions, increases in available credit, SBA funding, currently suspended because we ran out of money, small business owners convinced they will struggle to put people back to work because they are making $ 21 an hour on unemployment, which is not the individuals fault, other business owners literally afraid that they won't keep up with their mortgage or rent both near term and long term. Trust me, I get it.
I for one believe that Louisiana, especially the greater New Orleans area, will not even achieve Phase 1 by April 30th or maybe even later. It is highly unlikely that "we" will be anything like wide opened or phased in opened for at least another month. Of course, I have no inside info, just me. And if that be the case, it is still NOT the end of the world.
First, take a step back and a deep breath and acknowledge that we're still in the pit of hell with this damn thing called Covid-19. Over the next month people will be formally diagnosed with this, people will go to the hospital with this, people will die with this. And unfortunately many of us will say silly things like: well, people will die from this or that and people will be hospitalized with this or that, or big brother and deep state are manipulating the crisis and the numbers. Yep, all of this will be said because many of you are saying so now. This is still a disease not fully understood at all by the medical community, despite their absolute brave and heroic efforts especially during this pandemic. Not only this, there is NO cure, there is NO vaccine, there is promising developments but that still is in the future. And unlike the flu this thing appears to be much more contagious, it can escalate very quickly, and something the flu does not do, it travels the world rapidly. It has been active in over 180 countries all at the same time and after going easy on places like Africa, it's there now. Yes, many, thankfully the vast majority, have recovered, some have recovered splendidly, and we fully hope more will improve and recover.
So now what? Whether we are called to stay the course or someone declares, Phase 1, 2 or 3 is here, I pray much change remains changed. We have learned a lot about the seemingly simple things we always have done that are downright dirty and nasty. I promise this, and call me what you will, I'm not all that interested in shaking your hand going forward. I still like you, or love you, for sure respect you, but I'm just not ready, any time soon for handshaking. In reality, this is sad but it is also true. I can promise you this, I will forever wash my hands more and more every day and will not be out of reach of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and Lysol spray. I consume consistent and recommended levels of Vitamin C and now Vitamin D and plan to do so now and forever. I can't wait for some things getting back to normal at work, which by the way I DO NOT have the privilege of doing from home, but many of what we do now, to make the place cleaner and safer, will continue. Unless told otherwise, I cannot envision going many places without my masks. And now the hardest part for me.
Let's talk church and church in southeast Louisiana means predominantly the Catholic Church, although I will be talking about a few other churches. As a life long Catholic, as a member of the clergy, yes, Permanent Deacons are clergy, I long for a return to full Masses, beautifully celebrated liturgies, a full restoration of our numerous ministries, assembling for Bible Study, and for me, a robust return to the prison ministry gifted to me by God alone through His Church and His competent authority. Still, here comes the hard part. When it is time, and I pray all my superiors here in southeast Louisiana realize now is not the time, how will I react to seeing 300 people jam crammed in those pews? How will I react administering the Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to the faithful? How will I react that first night I step back into the chapel at Rayburn Prison? How long will we refrain from things we realize now have a real human impact like sharing a common cup, physical touch during the sign of peace, dipping your hand in holy water, which is changed infrequently? How will we all react? Will the faithful be wearing masks to church? Will the Priest, like that Bishop in New Mexico, be giving Communion with blue rubber gloves on? How will we handle the end of Mass after the procession when the Priest and I either shake hands or embrace those closest to us to the tune of hundreds every Sunday? Please don't dismiss this as my mind numbing ramblings, many of you are thinking this and authorities like the Archdiocese and others will be grappling with this and looking to offer balanced and proper guidance.
But, as I have made clear earlier, we are not there yet so we are where we are. And beautifully and wonderfully much faithfulness and much spirituality has shone thru this disease, thru the despair, thru the fear and thru the uncertainty. I have never seen such a response as the faithful navigate, some better than others, Facebook Live, YouTube, Vimeo, Skype, to take in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on a daily basis. Parish after parish have improved their websites so prayers, devotionals, etc. can be easily downloaded and used at home. Catholic faithful, especially the laity, have gotten all over social media to lead prayers, the Rosary, Divine Mercy, prayers from the daily Office. For me, and maybe it's just me, I try and take in at least 2-3 masses from our local parishes and it as been such a boost to my faith life. I read the daily synopsis of the Mass offered by Pope Francis and his daily homily. A KC friend leads us in Night Prayer at 9 pm without fail since this crisis became real. I am immersed in faithfulness. And many of you are too, and many more are coming along to join us. No, all this virtual spirituality is not a permanent replacement for being at Mass physically, receiving Jesus in Holy Communion physically, but it is where we are NOW. And it is altogether good and holy. It actually seems much more reverent and holy than some of the suggestions I am seeing out there on the internet like parking lot masses for example. Family and friends who worship in a faith tradition other than Catholic have shared with me how their pastors and ministers have worked hard too in order to live stream sermons, musical worships and other devotionals. My own nephew, a youth minister in his church, goes to Facebook live to sing songs and teach lessons to his youth group. We, as a collective people of faith, are learning to bloom right where we are planted. And it is good that we are here. And we don't even have to build any tents. All we have to do is pray, participate, encourage and exercise patience and understanding.
There is plenty to help keep us holy NOW, and futuristic speculation is foolhardy.
Our prayer life, if it has never been deeper, needs to be deeper. In addition to all we pray for, including praise, thanksgiving and worship of God, we can add all those impacted by this deadly virus, any and all who have died from this virus, to those brave and heroic souls on the front lines battling Coronavirus or working hard to keep those suffering from Covid-19 alive and to nurse them back to health. We pray for those working toward a cure and a vaccine. We pray for all impacted in other ways from this pandemic; families separated by social distancing, businesses struggling, employees out of work, an economy under duress, any other direct or indirect impact from this deadly disease. We pray for all those who have no choice and must work in front of the public too.
And so there is plenty to keep us holy NOW. "Going" to Mass will return yet will it be as holy as we can be holy NOW, Jesus isn't missing when we return to Church and He is not missing now. Embrace your Spiritual Communion and Act of Contrition. Keep holy now. There is plenty to help us to keep holy.
You know Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, TODAY and forever. Be holy, keep holy, stay holy.
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