Even though I still seem to be erasing more than I am writing into my calendar, there is light growing on the horizon, and I am letting myself start to wonder about the future. What the lasting changes will be—how the world will be different, how we will be different, what fruits will come of this? The answers to these questions will have to be revealed over time.
But one thing that I already count among the blessings of this time—not yet over—has to do with the Holy Father. With the pandemic came the need for news. Suddenly I went from never checking news outlets to checking every day. Between Church and State, as you well know, there has been a lot to keep track of. As interesting (and necessary)as the CDC, NYC Public Health, and Governor Cuomo’s website can be at times, it was the Vatican News Website that really blessed me through these months. All of a sudden I was in direct daily contact with the Holy Father’s own words, his Masses, his Benedictions, his daily prayer intentions, his spontaneous spiritual communions, his gestures…his very person. And how refreshing this was! His words are thought-provoking, his homilies inspiring, his leadership fatherly, and his example worthy of imitation. No doubt, there will be much to reflect on when this pandemic is truly behind us. But a fruit for which I am already grateful is more direct, unfiltered, uninterpreted, knowledge of our Holy Father, and this knowledge has yielded a more genuine love.
Perhaps like me, you are beginning to reflect on what this time means. What has been learned? What have we gained? How have we changed? What has God been saying in the midst of these circumstances? Anyone with even a wisp of wisdom will not venture to spend too much time asking the question why the pandemic happened. But to seek meaning, on a personal level, seems a very worthy endeavor indeed. I wonder what God has been trying to say to you through this? Now might be a good time to start asking.
Mother Clare, CFR