Dear Friends
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us” – Joseph Campbell
Much has been written in recent months about COVID-19, its significance and possible lasting impact. It’s exercised the mind and ‘pen’ of not just journalists and commentators, but also sociologists, economists, politicians and theologians. As we start to emerge from the strict lockdowns and restrictions, it’s appropriate to pause and reflect on the lessons of this most peculiar and anxious time.
For me, it’s highlighted the importance of two primary virtues: gratitude and hope. The old saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” asserts the fact that we often take for granted what is commonplace. So much of our normal life and practices have been removed from us: freedom of movement, attending weddings or funerals, meeting friends for meals, hugging and kissing loved ones. Despite our complaints about work, many have commented on how much they are looking forward to returning to the workplace to once again collaborate personally and closely with colleagues. All of these recent experiences have reminded us that “we don’t know what we’ve got ‘til it’s gone”. And even in this COVID time, we in Australia have much for which to be grateful – excellent health care, professional services, stable communications, thoughtful leadership. We should pause each day and just pray ‘Thank you God’! Rolheiser comments that “To receive in gratitude, to be properly grateful, is the most primary of all religious attitudes. Proper gratitude is ultimate virtue. It defines sanctity. Saints, holy persons, are people who are grateful, people who see and receive everything as gift”. We must never forget what we have. We should never take as owed, what’s offered as gift.
In difficult times hope is essential. We know this from our own lives. It’s the message of the Gospel – particularly during the current Church season. Hope is not optimism. There are similarities, but hope is grounded in faith. For us it is the confident affirmation that God is faithful and that we wait in confident expectation for God's purposes to be fulfilled. At its best, this brings us peace and calm. Hope is also based on the reality that we, and others, cooperate with God; that we are not working at cross-purposes; that we co-create. And we do this on the basis that we want what is better, what is best. And we can certainly see this in the work of so many people at this time.
American Catholic writer and journalist, Laura Kelley Fanucci, has written a COVID poem that captures this:
When this is over
May we never again
Take for granted
A handshake with a stranger
Full shelves at the store
Conversations with neighbours
A crowded theatre
Friday night out
The taste of communion
A routine check-up
The school rush each morning
Coffee with a friend
The stadium roaring
Each deep breath
A boring Tuesday
Life itself.
When this ends
May we find
That we have become
More like the people
We wanted to be
We were called to be
We hoped to be
And may we stay
That way – better
For each other
Because of the worst.
The month ahead is a crucial part of the pandemic journey; we will start to return to what we knew previously, but may we return as more grateful, more hopeful and more loving!
Br Peter Carroll FMS
President, Catholic Religious Australia.