Bulletin column from January 9, 2022

Dear Friends at Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish and Saint Frances Cabrini Parish:
Praised be Jesus Christ! I want to offer some brief comments on what at first might seem to be two unrelated items: Christmas and Covid.
Under the heading of Christmas, as we officially conclude the liturgical season today with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, I simply want to express my gratitude for, and awe of, the beautiful faith of our parishes expressed so well in these last few weeks. It is true that our numbers at the Advent and Christmas Masses were still short of pre-Covid numbers, however it is also the case that we did have nice crowds this year in church, far higher than last year. I sensed that people came to pray, were engaged, were grateful to be at Mass, were grateful for the sacraments and the beauty of our seasons, and I think simply grateful for anything that was “normal” and “routine.” It was a blessing for me to see faces of people in church I had not seen for quite awhile, and to watch children come home to pray with their parents, and to witness the joy and beauty of all the in-person encounters in our churches between friends and neighbors.
People have also continued to be very generous with their donations of time, money, and prayers. It takes a great deal of work to decorate our churches, and to come to hours of rehearsals for special musical pieces, and to sign up for times of Adoration, and to greet people as our ushers do over and over again. It takes great generosity and trust to keep sending in donations for our operations with everything else in life becoming more expensive. All of this went on this Christmas season in the face of so many other challenges and uncertainties in the world. I took it all in with a great sense of amazement at the enduring power of the Gospel, and also of the community of the Church. Our parishes are not perfect, and there continue to be problems and daily headaches, but even with all of that the genuine love for the Lord in our parish communities remains evident and strong.
Which is a fitting lead-in to Covid. Like everything in life that is linked to suffering, Covid has become yet another permitted agent of God’s plan for humanity that allows both the best and the worst of the human condition to come forth. It has been an agent to unleash compassion and tireless dedication on the part of so many towards the sick and the dying. It has also been an occasion for deep division, frustration, and daily up-ending of all that has been so routine for so long. It has been, from my vantage point anyway, a relentless source of consternation for all of our over-confident attempts at scientific, medical, political, and personal control.
To put it another way, Covid is in so many respects not a sickness but an antidote. It is not our opponent but is instead our instructor. It is a priceless modern lesson in humility, surrender, patience, and detachment which are all remedies to the deep-seated sickness of pride. It is teaching us all to learn the critical phrase about every plan we make: “If God’s wills it.” Science and politics can be great gifts, and as Christians we do not reject what is good in them. However, we cannot place all of our faith in them. It is a painful lesson for us all because the secularism of our era has seeped its way deep into our marrow, even into the bones of the Church. Maybe Covid will help to heal it.
The beautiful community gatherings of parish life during this Christmas season were a great sign of hope to me that the real healing of humanity that the Gospel offers is still possible and is still alive and well. In the face of all that is secular, so many of you came together in person, in church, before the altar, to profess the Creed, and to proclaim that Christ is born, and that his death and resurrection are the ultimate remedy for every single ill. No one came to Mass rejecting science, or the important role of politics, but rather you all came knowing that faith reigns above those things, and knowing that only God is our master. You came knowing that the in-person gathering of the Church’s community is of supreme importance and can never, ever be destroyed. Know of my gratitude and of my sense of awe at the gift of your faith.