April 25, 2020 11:41 pm

but that doesn’t salve our felt limitations. Close-quarter living is not easy.
Does anyone have a manual that describes how submariners cope …? They have an even more restrictive stay-at-home, way-of-life inside the ship than we do (so maybe we have it easy by comparison).
Here’s some spiritual food for thought. In going through this experience, couples might contemplate, perhaps as never before, that this virus-period is calling them to BE “sacrament” to one another (a sacrament is a tangible link to the Sacred, to God). May spouses look upon one another-—as God looks upon them (hint-hint: lovingly-—even when we behave in ways that are not our “best”).
And just as God tries to have NO social-distance with us, so might spouses—instead of passively coping with frustration and thinking only of it—pro-actively ask God how they might creatively enliven one another’s sense of worth, sense of value, and sense of being appreciated (again, even when they behave in ways that are not their best). Stated simply, might a spouse take time to ask God how they and God can make the next day one of affirmation for their beloved (instead of just waking up and hoping it’s a good day)?
Of course, each of us wrestles with this issue of “being a sacrament” when we go to mass. You and I reply “Amen” or “Yes” when we hear someone say: “the body of Christ.” Did you ever think that what’s said to us—-is a question?
We are being asked (among other things) “will you BE the body of Christ?” and our “amen” is our “yes” to that question. In that sacramental, tangible interaction, we have committed ourselves to be the “real presence” of Christ to others.
Some weeks back, I said that you might be the only bible someone ever reads. May everyone—young and old—also feel somewhere in their heart that they might be the only Jesus that someone ever meets.
Like Magdalene meeting the gardener on the first Easter Sunday and recognizing the risen Lord, I’ve seen him in the parish pews.
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