Deacon Jon DeLuney Our world is in the midst of a COVID-19 virus that is taking many lives of all ages and sickening many. We have had to change our work, school and retirement lives drastically in such ways as social distancing, self-quarantine, suspending church attendance, travel and shutting down many businesses. We don’t know how long we will have to continue these austere measures but they will remain in effect until the world healthcare scientists defeat this novel virus.
We have had to resort to creative ways of nourishing ourselves spiritually after Archbishop Hebda temporarily suspended Mass attendance in our archdiocese. As Joan and I viewed a local live stream Mass a few weeks ago, it quickly became evident how much we longed for attending Mass in church with other parishioners around us. We also became painfully aware of how much we missed receiving the Body and Blood of Christ during Communion. And this too shall pass.
We are a broken world due to this pandemic. We will not be able gather for Good Friday services but hopefully we see Jesus on the cross, a broken man. Blessings will come out of this health crisis just as they have come out of the brokenness of that first Good Friday. Jesus’ brokenness became a blessing for us because He died for our sins and by doing so, took down the wall that Adam and Eve put up between us and God by their original sin. God gave His only Son so that we might have eternal life. Our lives on earth are so very brief and we all have unique stories we bring along with us. One way we can appreciate life more in these turbulent times is to become more reflective and thoughtful. Our stories are not all rosy as we sometimes assume with people who are “living the dream.” Whatever our stories are, they are who we are and what make us who we are today. Sometimes, we want to deny or try to forget where we came from to stop the pain and discomfort. I would suggest that we own and accept our broken past and try to turn it into a blessing for ourselves or for others. We can cite numerous examples of people who have done this and who do it every day. All I have to say is Jacob Wetterling and you can see an excellent example of Patty and Jerry making this awful tragedy into a blessing of sorts by their starting an organization that locates lost and exploited children. We can look at many military veterans who come home broken mentally and physically who somehow find ways to turn their lives around in successful and productive ways. These people have owned and accepted their stories and turned their lives into blessings for themselves and for others. A final and most important step they have taken is to surrender to Jesus all their faults, failings and sins; in their story they have made lemonade out of lemons with the grace God gives us every day. God’s grace and our surrendering to Jesus and all that we carry around with us will help us move forward in a more hopeful way especially in these times we are experiencing.
We have had to resort to creative ways of nourishing ourselves spiritually after Archbishop Hebda temporarily suspended Mass attendance in our archdiocese. As Joan and I viewed a local live stream Mass a few weeks ago, it quickly became evident how much we longed for attending Mass in church with other parishioners around us. We also became painfully aware of how much we missed receiving the Body and Blood of Christ during Communion. And this too shall pass.
We are a broken world due to this pandemic. We will not be able gather for Good Friday services but hopefully we see Jesus on the cross, a broken man. Blessings will come out of this health crisis just as they have come out of the brokenness of that first Good Friday. Jesus’ brokenness became a blessing for us because He died for our sins and by doing so, took down the wall that Adam and Eve put up between us and God by their original sin. God gave His only Son so that we might have eternal life. Our lives on earth are so very brief and we all have unique stories we bring along with us. One way we can appreciate life more in these turbulent times is to become more reflective and thoughtful. Our stories are not all rosy as we sometimes assume with people who are “living the dream.” Whatever our stories are, they are who we are and what make us who we are today. Sometimes, we want to deny or try to forget where we came from to stop the pain and discomfort. I would suggest that we own and accept our broken past and try to turn it into a blessing for ourselves or for others. We can cite numerous examples of people who have done this and who do it every day. All I have to say is Jacob Wetterling and you can see an excellent example of Patty and Jerry making this awful tragedy into a blessing of sorts by their starting an organization that locates lost and exploited children. We can look at many military veterans who come home broken mentally and physically who somehow find ways to turn their lives around in successful and productive ways. These people have owned and accepted their stories and turned their lives into blessings for themselves and for others. A final and most important step they have taken is to surrender to Jesus all their faults, failings and sins; in their story they have made lemonade out of lemons with the grace God gives us every day. God’s grace and our surrendering to Jesus and all that we carry around with us will help us move forward in a more hopeful way especially in these times we are experiencing.
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