Using The Current Situation in the Church to Glorify God
There is a strange irony in today’s situations in many dioceses.
There is a strange irony in today’s situations in many dioceses. I am in a diocese where the ordinary called for the cancellation of all Masses until further notice. He added, however, the request for Catholic churches to remain open where people could come and pray.
So, what I did in my parish is to offer Eucharistic Exposition during what would be Mass times and I heard confessions in what I call a Hollywood confessional.
A little side note: when I first came to this parish, I discovered that the confessionals were disposed of almost ten years earlier. I recognized we needed one immediately and pulled together a prie-dieu and a partition on wheels for immediate use. I then asked for volunteers to build a real one for the parish.
A member of our immigrant community volunteered. He designed it to match the current wooden pattern in the church. He finished it about a month before the Corona virus restrictions hit the US.
Now I have a confessional with two separate walled compartments with a small screened window between them to make sure that the penitent remains unknown to the priest. Each compartment has a separate door for the respective entrance. It was not designed this way for the virus, but, coincidentally because of the two compartments and the nature of the screen of several layers of metal mesh there is virtually no possibility for corona virus transmission.
This means that in place of Mass, I can offer Eucharistic Adoration with an opportunity for receiving the Sacrament of Confession. I asked the organist previously assigned to the scheduled Mass to play meditative music in the background for the hour that would have been the regular Saturday vigil and Sunday liturgy. Eucharistic adoration in English usually attracts a small amount of people so it does not violate the ordinary’s nor the governor’s orders.
Why is this important? Now this, by default, becomes a call for repentance and to come and encounter Christ in the Eucharist. Those who may not be able to communicate Eucharistically because of their current lifestyle, irregular marriage and even refusal to accept certain teachings can at least come and pray.
This opens a door to prayer and repentance that was not as available previously. I do host Eucharistic adoration weekly on Wednesdays normally while I sit in the confessional and that will continue, but I can also offer the same in place of Mass while it is forbidden.
God’s grace can turn the current disaster into a call to prayer, reflection, repentance and holiness. He can create an opportunity not only for parishioners but for those who are not part of the parish. He can invite those who feel they are outside the Catholic Church for one reason or another to come before the Lord and pray, the first and most important step to knowing Christ.
The Church teaches that one cannot live the commandments if he or she does not pray (CCC 2098). Therefore, our greatest need is not to call people to Catholic morality, but to prayer first. It is the sine qua non of living our Catholic faith. Those who truly seek Christ in prayer, will change their lives through it.
Prayer is essential and building a Christ centered parish and Christ centered friendships are essential for one to live in Catholic charity, chastity and holiness says the Catholic Catechism. So, this rather difficult time created an opportunity in some parishes and dioceses. It turned into a call to prayer and a return to the first steps needed for one to know Christ, to seek Him and find Him in prayer and through Eucharist in adoration. Maybe that is how God is getting our attention and calling us to repentance?