PANDEMIC SUNDAY

that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. (Romans 1:12) The Bishop has asked that this weekend, we come together to pray for an end to the pandemic. Life as we know it, is sure to get a little harder to navigate. Apart from the distance we’ve experienced, with our nearest and dearest flung all over the globe, we’ve been living the dream for the last two years compared to ..... well compared to just about everyone else in the world. Now however it’s on our doorstep, and we need to make choices on how we will move forward. The following is an anecdote that occurred just a few months back. It’s not a long tale, so bear with me. She’s a faithful parishioner. Quiet, steady, the sort that just gets on with things. She had not been feeling the best and went for tests. The results came back, and with it came a diagnosis that she shared after a Mass. With a little prodding, she told of how she would face whatever comes with God’s help. That he would show her the ways and means and lend her all the strength she needed. I was struck by her positive attitude and said so. She put her hand on my arm and said, “I love my God.” Such simple words and said with such a wealth of feeling. They encapsulated a love so deep, they quietened any maelstrom of emotion. It was this mutual love that made her rock steady. No storm was able to buffet her. Jesus didn’t need to ask her (as in today’s Gospel), ‘Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?’ In the days to come, may we too experience such faith. May we face whatever we must (whether it be illness, food shortage, quarantine, lockdowns) with the confidence that God will give us the strength to see us through. May we choose to be positive in our dealings with others and keep our whinging and whining to the barest minimum. May we choose to limit our intake of negative news and dire warnings and instead be inspired by the good around us. May we choose to be kind, so we may be at peace with God, with ourselves and with each other. May we love him with a love that never wavers.