Strange Times...

What strange times these are. If someone had told us seven months ago that a virus previously unknown would infect the entire world and we would all have to stay indoors for weeks or months to keep from getting sick, would we not all have said, "Come on! That's not going to happen!" And yet here we are. In some sort of bizarre fantasy...except that it's real.

The isolation is driving us nuts. Is it not? How we long for and even need physical contact with other people. It's distressing to be isolated. Parents my age long to be with our children and our grandchildren. Even though we can see them on Zoom and FaceTime it's not the same. I find myself asking will I not be able to hug my grandchildren for months? Kind of rips our hearts out, doesn't it?

We are physical beings, bodily creatures. The Mass on live stream? Well, it provides some comfort. It's an opportunity to pray at the same time as other members of our parish community. We are praying at the same time, but are we praying with them? In a sense, yes, but it does not feel that way because we are NOT with them.

A live stream Mass is so much better than nothing, but in many very real ways it just falls short in comparison to physically being present at the Sacrifice of the Mass. There's a reason why watching a a Mass on TV is not a fulfillment of the Sunday obligation. We are dispensed from our Sunday obligation by our bishop, but we are not told that watching a live stream Mass takes its place. Because it doesn't. We are not attending Mass. We know it. We can feel it. And we are starving for the Real Presence of the Eucharist. Yes, the Presence. Not the live feed. Not a photograph. The actual Presence.

I'm not saying that our separation from the Eucharist is not important or required in a pandemic. I'm trusting that it is and leaving it to the epidemiologists to guide us. They are the experts and, conspiracy theories aside, I don't see any reason why they would not faithfully guide us where the facts take us. There are so many unknowns. We must acknowledge the unknowns.

Still, I hope our shepherds will think creatively and boldly, as I believe my pastor and many other priests are, to bring the Eucharist, especially the reception of the Eucharist, to the sheep. We need Jesus so badly. We especially need Him now.