How to "Empty Your Tomb"

Alleluia, He is risen! Death is defeated and the grave is no more. I hope you all had a blessed, safe, and healthy Easter Sunday. I know I was really looking forward to Easter and hoping it would shine some light on what's been an admittedly dark time for us. I felt a real spark of joy, but it's okay if you didn't! We're all handling things in our own way right now. In a way, we're all in the Tomb with Jesus.

Being in quarantine is definitely like being in the Tomb. I don't mean we're dead, so don't go calling me morbid! Think about it though, we're stuck inside, isolated, and there's probably some darkness around us. Being cooped up like this can bring out both the best and the worst in us, depending on our mental state, routine, and outlook. Times of stress and uncertainty can be especially hard on those who have mental health conditions, so let's keep them in prayer in a special way.

Whether you have a mental health condition or not, quarantine probably has you feeling a little down. You miss seeing your friends (hey, even introverts need SOME human contact!), you miss your routine of going to work, you miss mass, etc. etc. There's a lot we wish we could do right now that we can't, and that can make us feel like we're in the Tomb with Jesus.

So what do we do about it? We know that Jesus didn't stay in the Tomb, and that He showed His full power and glory by rising on Easter Sunday. If we're in the Tomb with Him now, that means we will rise with Him as well, right? Right. We will indeed rise with Christ when He comes again in glory. We'll also rise out of our houses once this quarantine is lifted. But I want to talk about how we can rise out of our "mental Tombs."

Because we're in this enforced physical "tomb" of our houses, we can create mental tombs for ourselves as well. We can fall into despair, hopelessness, and relentless negativity. We can tell ourselves that everything is awful and that it's never going to get better. We can stress ourselves out by reading every case total, every scrap of bad news, every opinion on how great or terrible a job the government has done handling this. I am guilty of all of these things, and there is no shame in admitting that.

There are numerous studies out there showing that patients afflicted with disease and injury recover quicker and more fully if they keep a positive outlook during their treatment and rehab processes. This is not much different from our situation. Our outlook and mindset, while not 100% predictive, can greatly influence our mental state during this time.

I wouldn't be writing this if it was easy. It is often so simple and quick to allow ourselves to despair and become negative about this situation. We are engaged in a battle for our own hearts and minds, and we have to literally FIGHT the Devil's attempts to steal our hope and happiness. So how do we do it? How do we fend off these constant attacks on our mind and spirit?

The first thing to do is to stay aggressively positive. I, for one, have avoided the news like the Plague (no pun intended) for the last 3 weeks or so. If something that directly impacts me happens, such as an extension of the quarantine by Governor Lamont or an extension of the suspension of public masses by the Archdiocese, that information will get to me. I don't have to seek it out. Fr. Mike Schmitz said it best: "Knowing more won't help."

I get it, that's a hard thing to internalize! But it's true. Knowing exactly how many people are sick in every county, how many have died in every country, and knowing the amount of medical equipment that each hospital needs will not help you feel better. Sure, the information is out there on the news. But since when have we needed to watch everything that's out there? On the contrary, as Catholics, we avoid certain things because we know they won't bring us closer to God.

Another good practice to get into is not looking in the rear-view mirror. I read an article by a doctor about the health benefits of a positive attitude. She mentioned that she had been in a really serious car accident and had to fight for years to get back to full physical function. She said that the thing that kept her going was not looking back on what she had lost, but instead celebrating every little victory in the aftermath.

It is undeniable that we have lost a lot to this disease. I have two little sisters who are both seniors (one in high school, the other in college), and my heart aches for the loss of their last few months with their friends. That was a huge time of processing for me, and I know how important it is. We've lost connections with others, the comfort of routines, and the freedom to do what we want. Some have even lost their lives. I am not proposing that we ignore what we have lost.

Instead, let's not dwell on it. We've all lost something, some more than others. But will fixating on what we've had to forego bring about anything good? Absolutely not. On the contrary, it will bring us into that mental Tomb ever deeper. Instead, let's celebrate the little victories: the small steps we're making back towards "normalcy" and the changes we're making for the better.

One thing I've been so encouraged to see is many churches being forced to embrace technology and digital communication. We are blessed to have such a tech-savvy parish (and pastor) here at St. Bridget of Sweden, but many are not. However, most every church has found a way to live stream mass and perhaps even started social media accounts they didn't have. This is something the Church has needed to do for decades, and this crazy situation is pushing the faithful forward in this regard.

Maybe you're spending more time with family, maybe the monsoon yesterday made your grass really pop today, maybe you finally have time to finish that book (or show, or game) that you've been meaning to tackle for months now. Who knows. We ALL have little things to celebrate, and it's important to lean into those right now. Talk about them. Be grateful for them. Focus on them rather than the darkness and what we've lost, because that is how we'll get through this.

Wow, this turned out longer than I meant it to! Maybe that's God telling me this post is important. Bottom line, it is so important for us to rise from the Tomb with Jesus. The Devil is fighting with everything he's got to pull you into darkness and despair. Don't let him win. Show him that your faith, your life, your entire self is imbued with the power of Savior. Fight to stay positive, fight to defeat hopelessness, and fight to look ahead to when we can all be together again. I can promise you'll feel a whole lot better.

I wish you all a blessed Easter season, and I look forward to seeing you in person again. Until then, in Christ,

Regis

April 12, 2020 - Easter Sunday

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

CANCELLED…we are hearing this word a lot these days, aren’t we? So much has been “cancelled” due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, and rightfully so, to enable us to stop the spread of this virus. It is appropriate to cancel large gatherings, to cancel meetings that are not essential, and to cancel the normal activities of daily life as we know it. Cancelling so much, while important, is uncomfortable. This we are learning.

Some headlines in the past couple of weeks even went so far as to announce EASTER IS CANCELLED. What? Did I read that correct? Is that possible? Well not exactly. We CANNOT and WILL NOT cancel Easter! But we will have to adapt to learning a new way to mark this significant FEAST.

You see we may not be able to do our “normal” activities to mark this most significant Feast but we can find ways to still celebrate! EASTER IS NOT CANCELLED! Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead! ALLELUIA!

We will NOT gather together physically in our churches, but we WILL gather together spiritually using the tools of today as we livestream the Easter Mass on Sunday at 11AM from Saint Bridget Church.

We will NOT be able to travel to see family and friends for our Easter visit to share time, fellowship, and, of course, an Easter meal.

We will NOT come to an Easter Bunny Breakfast or participate in the annual Easter Egg Hunt but we can find ways with our own families to let the children have some fun as they celebrate Easter.

This year more than any other in my life and perhaps yours we need to hear those words of life and hope, Jesus Christ is Risen! He is triumphant over sin and death! I imagine we are not that much unlike the early disciples. They had their hopes ruined when Jesus was put to death. They gave into fear and despair and found themselves locked behind closed doors to avoid being next brought to crucifixion.

Then the miraculous happened. As we hear on Easter Sunday, “On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb”…and the tomb was empty for He was RISEN FROM THE DEAD! And then on Divine Mercy Sunday (next Sunday) we hear “on the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”

Think how much we are like those early disciples. We are living in fear right now. We can give in to fear or despair pretty easily as this quarantine continues. We are grieving like they did. Our grieving is different, but perhaps not that different after all. They grieved the loss of their friend Jesus, the one whom they placed their hope in as being the Messiah. We are grieving loss as well. The loss of our “normal” way of life, the loss of those who have died from the Coronavirus, the loss of relatives and friends when we are not able to have the same closure we “normally” would. We, like them, find ourselves in isolation, closed in our homes, away from loved ones and friends, unable to visit one another, think especially of those in nursing care facilities.

YET, in the midst of this time of loss, this time of fear, this time of isolation, we STILL have hope because of Jesus Christ and the new life He offers by His death and resurrection! I recalled in my homily on Palm Sunday a moment in the movie The Passion of Christ when Jesus, burdened under the weight of the cross, falls to the ground. As He struggles to get up, He sees the heartbroken face of His mother. He forces a weak smile and says: “See, mother, I make all things new.”

That is what we await. We want God to make all things new. Including every part of our broken and suffering world. We want Him to transform the world around us. We want Jesus to bring healing, grace, and yes PEACE to our broken and fear-filled world.

The message of Jesus in one of my favorite scripture passages, one often used for funerals, from John 14, is EXACTLY what we need to hear today, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”This Sunday we realize that Jesus went from the Cross of Good Friday to the Resurrection from the Dead on Easter Sunday. Jesus has conquered sin and even death, and my friends He promises nothing less to us. The resurrection of Jesus reminds each and every one of us that death is not an end for us who believe!

The challenge for each of us is to face each day, even during this time of quarantine, with the hope that Easter gives. Each and every one of us face challenges, whether big or small, whether difficult to handle or not, and in these days perhaps we face more challenges than ever. And yet, the joy and hope we have in the Risen Lord allows us to face these challenges with a different focus. We do not face life with a dim and bleak outlook; rather, we face it with hope! For Easter gives us hope!

At the Great Vigil on Holy Saturday night we hear the Easter Proclamation, Exsultet, which so beautifully describes the Resurrection of Jesus. We hear “the sanctifying power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.” Yes! But why? Because this is the night when Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, and this is the night that leads us to grace and joins us to His holy ones.

That, my friends, is why the resurrection of Jesus gives us the greatest hope! That is why today Christians throughout the world say with great joy “Alleluia, He is risen!”

Continue to pray! Let us continue to pray for one another. Let us pray for our parishioners who are dealing with Coronavirus and for their families. Pray for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one during these difficult times. Pray for those who are alone and feel isolated. Pray for those who are working to care for others such as health care providers, doctors and nurses, aides, EMTs, first responders, police and fire personnel, all of whom are the heroes of our day. Pray for those workers who are showing up every day to do their jobs of grocery store workers, postal workers, bank tellers, gas station attendants, etc., who are providing essential services for us despite any fears they might have. Pray for all who are in need of our prayers that in some way the Risen Lord may bring them hope, peace, and comfort during this time.

I want to thank the many in our parish and community who, being respectful of social distancing, are finding ways to reach out to others in need. Thank you to the many of you who have been so generous in reaching out to your neighbors, making phone calls to those who are alone, shopping for strangers, doing pickups and deliveries, sewing face masks for healthcare workers, delivering meals, collecting food for the Cheshire Community Food Pantry, faithfully sending in donations for the parish, and for checking in on us, your priests.

It is so heartwarming to hear the many ways people are reaching out to others during this time.This is what being a parish family and a Christian community of faith is all about.Even when we cannot gather together physically to celebrate the Sacraments, our faith informs our very lives and sends us forth to make a difference in the lives of others. Thank you for hearing that call. As your pastor, I am extremely proud of and grateful for all of you! Hearing stories like this solidify my conviction that we will get through this together!

Please continue to join us as we do what we can with the tools of social media to bring our family of faith together. Join us when you can! I know we all LONG for the day we can be together once again in church, but until then please know that Father Federico and I are going to do all that we can to connect with you spiritually and virtually.

On behalf of myself, Father Federico, Sister Patricia, our deacons, the pastoral staff, and all the parish staff, I want to wish you and your families a blessed Easter.Despite how different, or even challenging, this Easter may be for us all, may this Easter season be a time of great grace for you and those you love.May the joy and hope that Easter brings into our lives help to quell our fears and strengthen our trust in God and His great love for us.May you experience the presence of the Risen Christ in new and unexpected ways in the weeks to come. Have a blessed Easter and be assured of our love and prayers!

As always, remember to pray for our parish family and ask God’s blessings upon us all in this time of pandemic. With the gracious intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, may we be united with one another in prayer! Please pray for me and know that I am praying for you!

Ask Father: What does forgiveness look like?

Ask Father: A parishioner sends in a three-part question:

(1) When is the best time for a parishioner to ask Fr. Romans or Fr. Federico to bless items? (2) What is your best advice for prayers for healing a family that is ongoing and the family is getting worse? (3) I know Jesus said forgive 70 X 7 times but what are we to do if someone in our life (a family member) is verbally accusatory especially around Christmas, Easter and family events? Do we have to answer the phone? Do we have to listen to all the poisonous lies being spewed at us? What does Jesus want us to do?

Dear friend in Christ,

(1) We would be happy to bless items for you. Call the rectory to make an appointment. (2) It’s hard to say without knowing the details but, in general, it doesn’t matter what prayers you say – it matters with how much faith you say them with. Speak to God like a beggar asking for help, because that is what we are. Keep in mind that counseling may be necessary for this family as well. (3) Forgiveness doesn’t mean accepting abuse or pretending that was done to you was fine and dandy. Forgiveness is a process, not an event, which culminates when you are able to tell the Lord ‘that person who wronged me doesn’t owe me anything anymore, it’s between them and You, now.’

Jesus wants you to love people. He said “a new commandment I give you: love another.” (John 13:34. He didn’t command us to like anyone. You don’t have to like someone in order to love them; liking someone has to do with the feelings and emotions. Loving someone has to do with the will, the part of us that makes decisions. Love is choosing or willing the good of another person. You can do this without ever having positive feelings about them. That is truly Christian love. You must love those people in your life, you don’t have to like them.