Dear OLM School and Parish Family:
“Why did all this take place? Once again, it was done for our sake, to serve us. So that when we have our back to the wall, when we find ourselves at a dead end, with no light and no way of escape, when it seems that God himself is not responding, we should remember that we are not alone. Jesus experienced total abandonment in a situation he had never before experienced in order to be one with us in everything. He did it for me, for you, to say to us: ‘Do not be afraid, you are not alone.’”
As we begin this Holy Week, I wish to express my deep gratitude to Mr. McNabb and the Faculty of OLM School for their tremendous dedication to ensuring that distance learning is so successful. I also wish to offer my thanks to you students and your families on the great collaboration and cooperation you have shown these last few weeks. The good work done in such unusual and unprecedented circumstances is a great witness to the excellence our school continues to strive for every day.
There is to be no distance learning class on Holy Thursday, Good Friday or Easter Monday. However, I would encourage you not take a break from prayer and devotion during the most sacred time of the year. Join with us in prayer and tune into our online Holy Week Services from OLM Church. Pray together as family and know that even as we are separated by distance, we are united as the Body of Christ.
Last week I saw an all too familiar photo of a priest offering prayers several feet away from the casket of a woman who had died of the coronavirus. On the other side of the casket, also standing several feet away, was a lone mourner, the woman’s son, the only person who could be there to bid his mother goodbye. He was one of the fortunate ones. Many of those who have lost loved ones aren’t allowed to be with them to bid farewell. Sadly many die without the final Sacraments of the Church and many without any funeral prayers. Tragically they die alone without any of their loved ones present.
As we ponder this, the words of our Savior in the Passion proclaimed on Palm Sunday still echo in our hearts. For Jesus cries from the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). These are profound words spoken as Jesus suffers the abandonment of his own friends and followers, who had fled in fear. The Savior himself experienced that desolation and isolation so many are experiencing now. The Crucified Christ experienced the utmost abandonment.
In his homily on Palm Sunday, the Holy Father, Pope Francis reflects upon this abandonment. He says: “Why did all this take place? Once again, it was done for our sake, to serve us. So that when we have our back to the wall, when we find ourselves at a dead end, with no light and no way of escape, when it seems that God himself is not responding, we should remember that we are not alone. Jesus experienced total abandonment in a situation he had never before experienced in order to be one with us in everything. He did it for me, for you, to say to us: Do not be afraid, you are not alone.’”
This Holy Week perhaps we might take up the cross for others. I ask you to join me in helping our brothers and sisters across the globe who are experiencing the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual anguish of social distancing and isolation. Let us in our prayer and devotion this Holy Week spiritually place ourselves beside one of the poor unfortunate souls who are dying alone in hospitals all over the world because of this pandemic.
Let us heed the call of God who walks with his people as “a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.” For God in his immense love sent his Only Begotten Son, to let humanity know of his love through Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Let us offer our isolation, the occasional feelings of boredom and our cabin fever, anxiety and apprehension about what comes next – as a way of “accompanying” these men and women suffering in sickness and dying alone.
This most unusual of Holy Weeks, let us pledge to offer all our prayers and devotion, from the moment we open our eyes in the morning, to the last prayer our lips utter before we retire at night, to “spiritually accompany” the many men and women suffering on their sick beds. Let us offer our studies and our work that we have been so fortunate enough to still continue through the internet; let us offer our meals that we are so blessed to still be able to have together with our family; let us offer our physical activities – our walk and our runs, our workouts and our sports; let us offer our nightly small gatherings as families which we are still able to have; let us offer the many blessings we continue to enjoy. Yes, Holy Week 2020 let us offer all that we have at the moment – for the thousands who suffer in sickness, in fear, loneliness, in solitude, in isolation.
May we offer our very selves to the Lord, so that in His mercy and love, he may make use of our humble gift, to be close to all those who, during these most distressful of times, need that human contact, that human touch, that comforting accompaniment and prayerful presence which, due to their illness and isolation, they are now denied.
Brothers and sisters, as we stand together at the foot of the Cross this Holy Week, may we entrust ourselves to the Mother of Christ and our patroness, Our Lady of Mercy, who accompanied her Son along his way of sorrows and stood beneath the cross at the hour of his death. May Mary our Mother lead our hearts and the hearts of every family through the vast desolation of suffering and death, towards that light which breaks forth from Christ’s resurrection and reveals the victory of love, joy and life over evil, suffering and death.
A Blessed Holy Week!
Father Healey