-
February 15, 2021During the pandemic, politicians and even faith leaders have placed a great stress on protecting our neighbors by staying home, wearing masks and foregoing the assembling together in religious services. In many parts of the world, Catholics are not able to attend Mass at all.
In a recent homily, the Dean of the Canadian Deanery of St. John the Baptist, Fr. Doug Hayman, reflected on whether love of neighbor is really our first priority. The homily is published in the February edition of The Annunciator, the newsletter of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary where Fr. Hayman is rector.
Fr. Hayman begins by noting how the past 11 months of varying degrees of lockdown have challenged Christians to think about what is "essential to the living out of our faith" and what can be set aside or suspended.
"What about gathering together for worship? What of fellowship? Receiving the Sacraments?" he asks.
"Some have argued that the most Christian response to the pandemic is to follow orders and stay home—away from Church, avoiding all human contacts—because the number one Christian virtue is that we care for others and keep them safe. Really? Is the first Commandment love of neighbor, or of God? Is it not the latter -- “Thou shalt love the LORD Thy God…This is the first and great commandment And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” -- [and] not vice versa?"
Fr. Hayman explains he does not intend to get into the specifics of various precautions imposed by authorities, but asks us to instead reexamine our own spiritual priorities.
"Are we not in all things to be about the salvation of souls?" he asks.
Fr. Hayman's homily prompted me to think about last spring and how many of us were totally deprived of access to the Eucharist for months. I recall reflecting how we are "all Evangelicals now" in the sense of having "spiritual communion" in place of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Sacrament. But then, last summer, when we were able to return to Mass (albeit with a number of rules regarding social distancing, sanitation, etc.) I discovered many Evangelical parishes had decided not to resume in-person services because the rules were too onerous. As a former Evangelical who once used to be "spiritual but not religious," I was often reminded of Scripture's call to "not forsake the assembling of yourselves together."
As someone quipped on social media a while back: you don't go to heaven via Zoom.
I know people have varying degrees of fear and concern over the pandemic, especially if they are in an age group or have underlying health issues making them more vulnerable. My intention is not to debate these or the precautions we are taking. Instead, I think we need to make sure the fear of illness and death does not displace the fear of God, and carrying out the Lord's priorities.
I think Fr. Hayman has a powerful point for all of us to consider. He concludes:
"The most important thing in our lives is not being safe or keeping others safe, but giving ourselves wholly to Christ, that we might know eternal life in Him and share that with others that they too may enter in. Everything the Church undertakes is supposed to be about the saving of souls, with that which is eternal. Yes, that surely does have application to how we treat one another in this world—because the Lord is incarnate, we are to share His love in incarnate ways—but we need always to have the right Priority first: our hearts centred in the Love of the FATHER, and the SON, and the HOLY GHOST, ever One GOD, world without end. Amen."Editor's note: You can read the homily in full published here at The Annunciator.
