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Dear Parish Faithful,
I have put together a rather miscellaneous group of texts from various sources, ranging from the patristic era to the current Patriarch of Constantinople, to some of our good contemporary writers. These texts all have in common (except perhaps from St. Basil the Great's) the theme of a response to the coronavirus. They can be sober and realistic, and they can be uplifting.
We are learning that we are all in this struggle together. Great Lent is a time of asceticism, and what we may not have joyfully embraced is being imposed on us by unforeseen circumstances beyond our immediate control. We are learning to simplify and to re-evaluate what is most dear and precious to us.
Perhaps there is a bit of irony in that we are now even more truly feeling what it is like to be a community united in Christ, more than when we had the freedom to choose to be in church - or not. We seem to always appreciate what we have the most precisely when we no longer have it. What committed Orthodox Christian does not miss the Liturgy?
Let us therefore continue to pray for one another, to communicate with one another, and to support each other as well as possible in our present circumstances: "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."
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"Perhaps some of you have felt that these drastic measures undermine or harm our faith.
However, that which is at stake
is not our faith - it is the faithful.
It is not Christ - it is our Christians.
It is not the divine-man - but human beings.
Our faith is firmly established in the roots of our culture. Our faith is a living faith, and there is no exceptional circumstance that can limit or suppress it.....
Have courage! And may God be with us!"
- Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople
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The Hasidic communities in New York City, who have resisted following social distancing rules, have become a hotspot of coronavirus. I guess they have courageously rejected the dominion of death. Now look. Because they didn’t want to change their lives, other people — health care workers — have to bear the burden of trying to save the lives of those who end up in the hospital because of it.
Rod Dreher
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Prayer for a Pandemic
May we who are merely inconvenienced, remember those whose lives are at stake.May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.
May those who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May those who have the flexibility to care for our children when schools close remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel a trip remember those who have no safe place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.
May those who settle for quarantine at home remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country, let us choose love during this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us find ways to be the loving embrace to God and our neighbor.
Amen
- prayer by Cameron Wiggins Bellm
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I don't know if I can get sick receiving the Eucharist. I don't think I'm supposed to have a self-assured answer to that. I still partake anyway, when given the opportunity and do so gratefully without undue fear. In part because I know that even bodily sickness can be for my healing, on a deeper level. I hear the words "for the healing of soul and body" as "for the re-orientation of soul and body toward Christ," not as "for the complete medical/biological treatment of all bodily and spiritual ailments as understood by 21st-century Western medicine." We hope to receive the Eucharist on our deathbed; if we truly believed it were for the healing of soul and body in the strictly medical or biological sense, why do we still die? Indeed, in this circumstance we'd consider a death after receiving the Eucharist to be a good death.
- Dr. Nicole Roccas
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Separation, especially separation from loved ones, is always difficult. To paraphrase what others have said, “separation is a type of crucifixion.” Yet, as Christians who are physically separated from each other and consequently separated from the Lord’s table we can remind ourselves that the fibers of mutual care and love have not been severed. If anything, being apart from one another offers us the possibility to understand the other more clearly which in turn allows us to see the other as a precious gift never to be taken for granted. Separation from the Liturgy offers us the possibility to see that our coming together as the Church is an act of love for the one who loved us first and not an act of thoughtless habit or obligation.
- Fr. Robert Arida
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When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.
- St. Basil the Great
