THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE IN THE MIDST OF MISERY

On Friday, Ruthie and I received our 6^th Covid vaccine. I remember in the early dark days of 2021, when the first vaccine came out. It was the first sign of hope for human life, at least in the United States. The failed administration of trump had been voted out of office, and a responsible administration oversaw the distribution of the vaccines from which we would eventually emerge from quarantine lock down and begin to re-socialize as a society.

Vaccine protected, we have been cautiously reentering into the world from our Covid hermitages from which we sheltered from the raging death around us. Covid in all its many manifestations and mutations is still killing people, 15,000 alone in Minnesota thus far this year. Two years later, many of us still bear the scars of that isolation, and spiritual and emotional wounds opened during that time, have yet to close for many of us. I am still hesitant to go to crowded events, the most crowded I will attend is Saturday evening Mass at our parish, Pax Christi in Eden Prairie.

Upon getting “stuck” a sixth time, for which I am extremely grateful, I remember some of the incredible hope and joy I experienced during those very dark days of death in 2020 and 2021.

THAT WAS THEN …

There was a time when the majority of Americans were united. We were cheering on the medical heroes and heroines in our medical facilities who were overwhelmed by the pandemic and all the exhaustion, hopelessness, and death they witnessed 24/7. Because of corporate greed and the shortsightedness and denial policies of trump’s administration, we faced an extreme shortage of ventilators and N-94 masks for our own medical personnel, who had to work in extremely dangerous situations with little needed equipment to protect them. Many of these heroes in assisting those gravely ill, ended up infected and dying from the pandemic. My daughter Meg, working at the Vets Home in South Minneapolis, my daughter Beth, working at Hennepin County Medical Center, were on the front lines of Covid and experienced the brunt of the pandemic. My sons, Luke and Andy, were considered necessary workers and worked all during the lock down.

2020-2021 were incredibly and tragically dark and fearful. I remember the visual images of refrigerator trucks lined up outside of hospitals as temporary morgues for all the victims of the pandemic. The mass common graves dug to handle all the dead in cities, e.g. Hart Island off the shore of New York City remain still very vivid.

I remember how our religious leaders, especially of Christian denominations, betrayed their church members. Many of these leaders preaching that God would never betray disciples of Jesus Christ  and infect them with Covid, and continued to hold services, often without masks, only to aid in spreading the Covid infection and destroying the lives of so many in their congregations. Whole families, parents and children, were wiped out because they believed their religious leaders. The stupidity of these leaders infuriated me. I wrote a very irate letter to the priest in charge of the Liturgical Commission in the Archdiocese about the Archbishop allowing communion on the tongue. He replied that the Archbishop was a Canon Lawyer and was within his power to allow it. I replied back that the Archbishop was not a medical doctor and that the reception of communion on the tongue was forbidden on the European continent, including Vatican City! I concluded the letter stating that when Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me,” he did not mean spreading Covid and death!” I am sure that did not endear me to that priest, nor the Archbishop.

Yet, even in those very dark times, when idiots denying Covid, mainly MAGA zombies and the irresponsible, who didn’t believe they would ever get sick and die, were running around, spreading the pandemic in our churches, on the beaches of Florida and other coastal States, and everywhere in Texas, there was still hope and a solidarity among many Americans.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE LITURGY OF THE WORLD

I found that hope in the arts, many of which were presented on YouTube.

Shows like Josh Gad’s Reunited Apart, in which casts of the actors of many of our favorite movies, especially from the 80’s and 90’s, e.g. The Goonies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Lord of the Ring Trilogy to name a few, gathered virtually to talk about the filming of their movies and where they were in their present lives.

John Krasinski aired episodes of Some Good News about people coping with life under lock down. One of the most entertaining of which was episode 7 in which a couple gets married virtually on the show, with Krasinski presiding and the cast of The Office virtually recreating the wedding procession dance from the wedding of Jim and Pam in the show.

Shelbie Rassier, a music graduate from the Berkley College of Music, orchestrated and directed a virtual orchestra and singers in the song, “What the World Needs Now.” What a creative, wonderful way to bring hope to people who felt hopeless.

Composer and musical director, Eric Whitacre, released a number of choral pieces he composed for choir on YouTube, sung by a virtual choir gathered from all over the world. This video, Sleep, that he created is nothing more than a gift of grace from God. With each viewing, I remain spiritually and emotionally uplifted.

In spending time watching and meditating on this incredible output of creativity, I could only think of how the Holy Spirit, using all these diverse people and the talents they have, was a sign and a gift of God’s grace in our world. This creative, artistic surge is what the Catholic theologian, Karl Rahner, had begun to develop when he wrote the theological concept of “The Liturgy of the World” in which the Holy Spirit uses the secular music and art of the world to create Divine liturgy in our lives.

… AND THIS IS NOW

We are once more entering into a very dark and bleak time in our nation. The failed insurrection of donald trump has not ended. trump, the political and religious right are still seeking to destroy democracy in the United States and replace it with a kind of fascist, Christian theocracy. The days ahead of us will continue to be fraught with anxiety. Tragically, the brief moment of solidarity of Americans has collapsed. I pray that the Holy Spirit may once more inspire our secular composers, our musicians, our artists and use their talents to create a Liturgy of Hope in the months ahead of us.

Lest we slip into despair, as many had during the early years of the pandemic, we can gain hope believe it or not in Psalm 22. Though the psalmist laments his present condition, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” at the conclusion of the song, the psalmist acknowledges that God will sustain him and be victorious. So may we cast our eyes beyond the dark present to the hope and victory that awaits us.