A huge thank you to Claudia Smith for sharing this. As she said, it will give you goose(God)bumps.
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Here is a video shared by Claudia Smith. Her comment was "This truly rises above great...our Lord is clearly very much at play here. Awesome is an understatement.
Please listen and enjoy.  Mark your forehead with ashes,
your door post with blood. This plague, blind to faith, deaf to prayer, passes over or pauses, coming for him, for her, for me, for you. Poetry, like prayer, wrestles with angels trying to make sense, cleaving our lives into before and after winter / spring life / death. Far more than forty days, this desert time yields neither to sacred seasons nor to spring’s green arrows. We pray not for resurrection but for the return of ordinary time. - Mary Turck By Kristi Bothur
with a nod to Dr. Seuss Twas late in "19 when the virus began bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land. People were sick, hospitals full, doctors overwhelmed, no one in school. As winter gave way to the promise of spring, the virus raged on, touching peasant and king. People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen. They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned. April approached and churces were closed. :"There won't be an Easter," the world supposed. "There won't be church services, and egg hunts are out. No reason for new dresses when we can't go about." Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest. The world was focused on masks and on tests. "Easter can't happen this year," it proclaimed. "Online and at home, it just won't be the same." Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went. The virus pressed on; it just would not relent. The world woke Sunday, and nothing had changed. The virus still menaced, the people estranged. "Pooh pooh to the saints," the world was grumbling. "They're finding out now that no Easter is coming. "They're just waking up! We know just what they'll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two. and then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo. "That noise," said the world, "will be something to hear." So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear. And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies. It started down low, then it started to rise. But the sound wasn't depressed. Why, this sound was triumphant! It couldn't be so! But it grew with abundance! The world stared around, popping its eyes. Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise! Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small, was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all! It hadn't stopped Easter from coming! It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine stood puzzling an puzzling. "Just how can it be?" "It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies, it came without egg hunts, cantatas or money." Then the world thought of something it hadn't before. "Maybe Easter," it thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more." And what happened then? Well....the story's not done. What will YOU do? Will you share with that one or two or more people needing hope in this night? Will you share the source of your life in this fight? The churches are empty - but so is the tomb, and Jesus is victor over death, doom and gloom. So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer, as the virus still rages all around, everywhere. May the world see hope when it looks at God's people. May the world see the church is not a building or steeple. May the world find faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, may the world find joy in a time of dejection. May 2020 be known as the year of survival, but not only that -- let it start a revival. We are all finding different ways of celebrating Palm Sunday,, Holy Week and Easter. Thanks to Barbara, Francisco and Nancy for sharing their inspirations. And people stayed home
and read books and listened and rested and exercised and made art and played and learned new ways of being and stopped and listened deeper someone meditated someone prayed someone danced someone met their shadow and people began to think differently and people healed and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways, dangerous, meaningless and heartless, even the earth began to heal and when the danger ended and people found each other grieved for the dead people and they made new choices and dreamed of new visions and created new ways of life and healed the earth completely just as they were healed themselves. - Catherine O’Meara Dear Friends in Christ,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2) Perhaps we will never look at the Apostle Paul’s letters in quite the same way. Paul wrote to churches in the far flung reaches of the Roman Empire with words of encouragement, words that shared his deep faith, and words that affirmed his commitment to Jesus. He wrote letters because sometimes travel to be there in person was not possible or because he was “inconveniently” confined (in prison). Could we take a page or two from Paul’s letter writing practice to share our own words of encouragement, faith and commitment to Jesus with one another? The God that we worship chose to create this world, chose to be a part of this world in Jesus, and chose to be continually present through the power of God’s Spirit. This means that God is present in every challenge and difficulty that we face. And God seeks to bring good even in the most trying of times. We are called to be attentive and alert to the ways of God which reflect this goodness. So, I encourage us to see God’s presence among us and share this with one another. Where is God present?
While experiencing our own form of confinement we will begin a modern-day epistle – a blog – so everyone at St. Anthony can participate. You can reach our blog, and if you wish, contribute reflections, poems or prayers by following this link: Your turn now – Where is God present to you? In Christ’s Love, Dorian+ A Poem by Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM
Lock down. Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation. Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness. Yes there is even death. But, They say that in Wuhan (China) after so many years of noise You can hear the birds again. They say that after just a few weeks of quiet The sky is no longer thick with fumes But blue and grey and clear. They say that in the streets of Assisi (Italy) People are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open so that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family around them. They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound. Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number through the neighborhood. So that the elders may have someone to call on. Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary. All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting. All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way. All over the world people are waking up to a new reality To how big we really are. To how little control we really have. To what really matters. To Love. So we pray and we remember that Yes there is fear. But there does not have to be hate. Yes there is isolation. But there does not have to be loneliness. Yes there is panic buying. But there does not have to be meanness. Yes there is sickness. But there does not have to be disease of the soul Yes there is even death. But there can always be a rebirth of love. Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now. Today, breathe. Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic The birds are singing again The sky is clearing, Spring is coming, And we are always encompassed by Love. Open the windows of your soul And though you may not be able to touch across the empty square, Sing. - Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM March 13th 2020 |
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