“Imagine Ourselves” by Jim Bayne

“Imagine Ourselves” by Jim Bayne

Fifth Sunday of Lent

“Thus, says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O, my people.” (Ezekiel 37:12)

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So, the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” (John 11:33-36)

Piety

Slow down, it’s COVID Time

This is the time to be slow,

Lie low to the wall

Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let

The wire brush of doubt

Scrape from your heart

All sense of yourself

And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,

Time will come good;

And you will find your feet

Again, on fresh pastures of promise,

Where the air will be kind

And blushed with beginning.

-- John O’Donohue (Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher)

A Prayer in Time of Corona-Virus

Almighty and All–loving God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

we pray to you through Christ the Healer

for those who suffer from the

Coronavirus COVID–19

in Ireland and across the world.

We pray, too, for all who reach out to those who mourn the loss of each and every person who has died as a result of contracting the disease.

Give wisdom to policymakers, skill to healthcare professionals and researchers, comfort to everyone in distress, and a sense of calm to us all in these days of uncertainty and distress.

This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who showed compassion to the outcast, acceptance to the rejected, and love to those to whom no love was shown. Amen.

Archbishop Michael Jackson (Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough)

Study

In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius of Loyola suggests that for each Gospel story, we should try to put ourselves in the place of each character in turn and imagine how we would feel in those circumstances.  Amid this pandemic, with people dying all around the world in increasing numbers, it should not be too hard to imagine ourselves as one of those on a ventilator or perhaps even one of those already in the morgue. “Social distancing” in our homes will eventually feel like we are in the tomb. Use this time to imagine.

Action

Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland, is taking this time of crisis to interrupt their normal Lenten program and replace it with one that addresses our current situation. They are calling the program “Never Waste A Crisis.”  Fr. Michael White, the pastor, introduced this new program during his homily last Sunday. He suggested three steps we might take to avoid wasting this crisis:

Make a schedule for yourself. Write out your schedule for an ideal week.

Stay connected. Join a small group Personal prayer. Turn to God in prayer consistently and regularly

To watch Fr. White’s complete introduction, click on the link above. The parish has a cornucopia of material available on their web site.  Last Sunday, more than ten thousand people from all around the world tuned in to their Sunday Mass streamed over their web site.

The Nativity parish example is just one of countless opportunities available to as we wait in our “tombs” for the Resurrection of our country and our world.

During my Saturday morning Zoom group, I heard of many ways our members are doing their “Apostolic Action” during this time. One member was going through his Christmas card list and randomly calling people he thought could probably use a lift. Another was using Zoom to reconnect with family members scattered across the country. He described the excitement of a group of about eight family members seeing a new grandchild for the first time.  I visited with our daughter and her daughters using Google Duo. We hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving.  Another member had a Zoom conference scheduled for right after our group with another of his now electronically connected groups. The second group has members in Europe, Australia, and the U.S. all meeting together via Zoom.

What ways have you found to “Never Waste A Crisis?”  Try some of the techniques described above if you haven’t already discovered ways of staying alive and active while in the tomb. How can you help our Lord, “open your graves, and bring you up from your graves?”