There is no doubt, that this has again been quite a difficult term for many, if not all of us, due to the challenges of lockdown restrictions, remote learning, working from home, isolation, serious illness and even death, all brought about by Covid 19.
It would be easy to give up, understandable really but that gets us nowhere and only deepens our troubles. When things become tough, we need to stay positive, difficult as it may seem and trust in our faith in God to pull us through.
Therefore, I would like to draw your attention to a reflection from Fr Tony Cox, our College Chaplain. I urge you to take the time to read this as Fr Tony offers us here, real insight and food for thought in remaining true people of hope. In doing so, can I also remind everyone that Fr Tony is available to families who may need any pastoral or spiritual support. Please do not hesitate to contact the College if this be the case.
The Covid Crisis.
What do we do? How do we cope? It just seems never ending these days!
As we all know there is a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel though the Covid Crisis still curtails! At the outset, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work, effort and consideration that has gone into all of our lives, ministries, relationships and the like since the Pandemic began. The Pastoral Approach that Penola Catholic College has taken in all avenues of life and faith is certainly to be admired. I personally admire and thank you all. We are, however, still to be challenged. I offer a few reflections to help us further along the way.
Generally, for most of us there are times when life seems as light as a feather and as merry as the month of May. We don’t have to work at it or struggle with it. Yes, there are “ups and downs” but generally we are able to go with the flow. We can relax and enjoy. We are grateful. But then there are those other days and occasions when the long days of Summer turn into a bitter Winter, when living, personal relationships, patience, hope and health cease to be easy and everything all of a sudden becomes hard, frustrating and very confronting. Life no longer carries us! Instead, everything becomes a burden, and we end up having to carry it, sometimes by our own self but more often than not, as in the case with the Corona Virus, we carry it and share it with others and in an immediate sense, our Family and Friends.
At the moment, we are all experiencing these sorts of days. Our hearts are heavy. Life just simply feels like a load of bricks has been dumped fairly and squarely on our individual shoulders and those of Family, Friends, Community, Nation and our world in the form of the Covid Pandemic.
Times like this present us all with a very practical problem. What do we do? What to do with the burden of the Pandemic. We have and we still continue to face it and be confronted by it. Yes, we are doing much in the way we can: we are following the directives of the Government, the Doctors, the Epidemiologists and so many other Professionals. This is only natural. It is a certain necessity but I find myself asking myself again and again, how do I and am I continually facing these burdens or these challenges as they do change each and every day.
I do not want to get “too churchey” or “get up on my soap box” and preach but rather I would like to share with you three verses from the New Testament which might in some way supply somewhat of an answer to the questions we have at the moment. ( Please take this in its’s context)
In St Paul’s letter to the Galatians it is written: “For everyone has to carry their own load” (Gal. 6.5). This instruction is found in Paul’s letter to the Christians of Galatia. To some it may sound like a reprimand, as though Paul were saying, “you made your bed, now lie in it.” But this is not what his intent was at all. The apostle is simply telling us two things about life’s burdens. One, that we all have them. No one is exempt. And two, that burdens are, for the most part, inescapable and not transferable. We cannot run away from them, and we cannot push them off onto someone else.
Reading this short verse, Paul in reminding us of these truths is not being unkind to us. On the contrary, it is one of the most considerate things that anyone could do for us. We set ourselves up for needless pain and bitter disappointment, if we live with the illusion that all burdens are somehow avoidable and escapable. They are not. Maybe the pandemic is an exception. I am still trying to work this one out! But generally, sooner or later burdens and challenges come to one and all. Our first line of defence is to see them as part of real life. We are trying to do this indeed now! Paul spoke the truth when he said, “each person will have to bear their own load.”
But we have to thank God that this is not the whole story! The second thing that we can do with life’s burdens is to share them with other people. This is certainly something that the Pandemic is forcing each and everyone of us to do. In that same Letter to the Galatians (Gal 6.2), Paul earlier on wrote, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
I cannot lift from your heart at this time the angst, the pain, the frustration, the confusion, the tyranny of distance, the isolation, the loss of income and loss of job, the death of a loved one or the sudden confinement of life, health and breath etc. But I can help you carry it. And you can do the same for me. Your pain etc can become my pain, and my pain can become yours. Paul called this a fulfillment of the law of Christ.
There is only one law that Jesus ever gave his disciples, and we find it in the Gospel of John (13.34). “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must our love be for one another.”
Especially at this time, I believe that what we all have to do is to entrust all to God. There is a verse in the Psalms that reads: “Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will support you” (Ps 55. 23).
This, naturally enough, raises the question of how. What does it mean to entrust our burdens to God? We cannot take them off, as though we are taking off a backpack, lay them down and then walk away. As we all know, life is not this simple. But we all, individually and collectively, can remind ourselves of the often-promised Biblical promise that we are not alone. We all can acknowledge our need for help, and we can ask for it. Then we can go as far as our strength will carry us and leave the rest to God. If this is not the meaning of faith, then I do not know what it means.
When Moses, the great leader of Israel, was near the end of his life, he gave one final speech to the nation. Near the conclusion of that speech, he made a statement that the people must have cherished with all their hearts. Doubtless, it sustained them in times of adversity. And across the centuries, it has sustained untold thousands and millions of struggling women and men. What he said was this: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut: 33.27).
Let us all, as Individuals, as Families, as Friends, as a Community, as a Nation, as Nations and as a World live on in hope, in promise and in love. Let us continue to be people of hope.
Amen.
Fr Tony Cox
College Chaplain