This year’s Lent is a strange one. The discipline of giving things up has now become something that everyone - whether they are a Christian or not – now needs to learn and embrace. Our world has changed, and it acquired a somewhat Lenten character. We have been asked to abandon the many things we enjoy doing, including attending church and socialising, pubs and restaurants are all closed, and we cannot visit our families on this Mother’s Day. But we know that this compulsory abstinence has been introduced for a very good reason and for a greater good of all, including ourselves. I believe that as those who follow Jesus on the way of his cross and passion, we are called to lead by example. We have a Saviour who suffered the most excruciating pain and who died for us all, not out of necessity, but out of love for humankind. As St John the Evangelist writes in the Gospel, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life’ (J 3.16). God wants us to live. He doesn’t wish to punish or destroy us but invites us to trust in his unfailing love and compassion. This means that even when illness and death shatter our everyday lives, we can be sure that God never abandons us. In his Son, he carries our pain in his heart and gives us hope stretching beyond a confinement of our earthly lives. One of his greatest gifts for us is a sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life. It is an essential part of our calling to imitate the love we continue to discover in the person of Jesus Christ. During a time like this, when we are asked to give up our daily routines and inhabit a new and, in many ways, more demanding way of life, not only we need to obey but also to love. When, for the time being, we are deprived of the Eucharist then we will do well to remind ourselves of St Augustine’s exhortation to ‘become what we receive’, the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ. In the world we live in right now, one of the most obvious ways in which we can give sacrificially of ourselves to our neighbour and become more Christ-like is by staying at home. Something of our own comfort needs to die in order to allow someone else, and ourselves, stay well and live. This is going to be especially difficult today, as we are celebrating Mothering Sunday during this time of social distancing and self-isolation. But as we do all we can to fight an invisible enemy of the coronavirus, we soon realise that we in fact share in a common task of mothering one another, that is of taking our responsibility for each other seriously. In today’s reading we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of the cross, supported by Jesus’ beloved disciple, St John. Jesus, on seeing his mother doesn’t fall into pieces, but does something incredibly practical. Even in the darkest hour of suffering and isolation, when death seems to have un upper hand, Jesus brings life into this most desperate and heart-breaking moment. He says to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he says to John, ‘Here is your mother’ (J 19.26-27). These few words of Jesus spoken from the cross addressed to the two people closest to him established between them a new relationship of trust and of love. They knew things were going to be different after Jesus’ death. They knew that for a while to be out and about was going to be too dangerous for them, so they went home. Perhaps the closing sentence from today’s gospel passage is what we need to heed the most today, ‘And from that hour the disciple took her into his home’ (J 19.27). Although it’s Mothering Sunday, today is not the day to visit our families. This is the day to show our love and care for one another by doing exactly the opposite – staying at home to help slow down the spread of coronavirus. Small acts of kindness will have to suffice today: making a phone call, sending an email, or offering to do a shopping or prescription run for someone who is self-isolating. At 7 pm this evening, when we light a candle in our windows to remember the light of Christ shining even within the darkest night, let us receive the love and comfort of God into our homes, and pray for those from whom we are separated, but also for those who are on a front line of the fight with the coronavirus epidemic, all health workers and their families. May Mary, Mother of Our Lord, who at the foot of the cross became also a mother to John and to each one of us, pray for them and for us. Fr Robert
19th March 2020, St Joseph’s Day‘When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do’ (Mt 1.24). Today is the feast of St Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a foster father to Jesus. This feast falls during a challenging and deeply anxious time of the coronavirus pandemic. Because of the pandemic we can no longer celebrate public services in our churches. This decision, taken by our Archbishops following the Government’s advice to stop all non-essential contact, although painful, is right and necessary. It flows from the first and greatest commandment of all, to love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength; and to love our neighbour as ourselves. The true love of God is attested by a love of one’s neighbour. This necessary closure of our churches, in a time such as this, is one of the many ways in which we can express our love of God and neighbour. Doing the right thing is now more important than ever. Today’s patron saint, S. Joseph, provides us with an excellent example of how to do this. What he and Mary went through before they even moved in together was a real trial of love and trust. Joseph, on finding out about Mary’s pregnancy, must have been heartbroken. Not surprisingly, he wanted to break the engagement and end the whole thing altogether. However, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph in a dream and explained that Mary’s pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit, Joseph’s attitude changed dramatically. He realised that the situation he and fiancée experienced was beyond their control. All he could do was to do the right thing, to be obedient to God’s will. So, as the Evangelist Matthew tells us, ‘when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.’ Today, we also need ask ourselves, ‘What is the right thing for me to do?’ How can I live according to the greatest commandment of love of God and neighbour during this unsettling time of the coronavirus pandemic? What is my responsibility? In what practical ways I can care for myself and for others? It may be that staying in self-isolation is the right thing for you to do. Even when you’re self-isolating, you can pick up the phone and offer friendship to someone else who is now struggling. Or if you happen to be fit and well enough, you may wish to volunteer to help someone else with their shopping. There are many small practical steps we all can take to make this unprecedented situation more bearable. Whatever we do, it is critical to heed the Government’s advice to avoid all non-essential contact, follow the NHS guidance, and continue to pray and care for one another. Joseph was a man of action. But he was also wise enough to the right thing. When the life of Jesus was in danger, ‘he took Mary and the child by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod’ (Mt 2.14). He was forced to go to a strange country and hide there until the danger was over. We too may now feel like we are forced to go to an unknown land. Our world is changing right in front of our eyes and it feels deeply unsettling. During our prayers, as we kneel before God, let examine our hearts and ask, ‘What is the right thing for me to do right now?’ ‘How can I best express my love of God and neighbour?’ May the Holy Spirit guide us with his light of truth, and may S. Joseph pray for us that we all may do the right thing. Fr Robert
