It seems apropos that we are on quarantine during lent. Quarantine, after all, comes from the Italian words "quaranta giorni", meaning 40 days. Back in the 14th century, ships arriving in Venice from other infected ports had to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing, to prevent the spread of disease. Lent is our 40 days of waiting, preparing. We are quarantined in more ways than one.
Of specific hardship during this time of isolation is the suspension of the sacraments in many parts of the world right now. Catholicism is not merely a spiritual practice. Catholicism by nature is concrete, a melding of the spiritual and physical, because it is founded by Christ, who was both divine and human. The sacraments are a physical sign of an invisible grace. And right now, the Church Militant is being denied the grace we so desperately need, because we are not allowed to participate physically in the mass and sacraments. This feels like a blow by the evil one, a siege of sorts - a starvation of the soldiers of Christ, in the heat of battle. Of course we can watch mass online. We can pray. We can read and meditate on the scriptures, and participate in any number of private devotionals. God has not abandoned us, He will never abandon us. He has promised us that. But this time without access to the sacraments feels like a spiritual deprivation. We have grown used to having ready access to the Eucharist - daily if we want! We have had access to confession whenever we have needed to unburden ourselves of guilt and sin. We have been able to baptize our children, sacramentally marry our spouses, and receive anointing with every serious illness. More than any other time in history, the sacraments and the grace they provide have been available to us, and maybe... maybe it was all too easy. Maybe we took them for granted because they were so readily accessible. Maybe we forgot their importance, did not appreciate the strength they instilled in us, because they were always right there if needed. And now that they're gone, for the time being at least, we feel their absence painfully. The strongest spiritual weapon available to us has been taken away, worldwide, by an invisible foe.
Personally, I'm comforted by the fact that the mass is being said daily, all over the world, whether we lay people can participate or not. Privately, in churches and rectories the world over, our priests continue to offer the sacrifice of the mass. It cannot be stopped, no matter how this pandemic tries, and we need to trust and rely on our good priests for the moment in that regard. They are continuing the battle for us right now. And I remember the story of the Christians in Japan, who were converted through the efforts of St. Francis Xavier and the Jesuit missions in the 1500's, only to be thrown out of the country soon after, with Christianity severely repressed. When Japan reopened to foreigners again 250 years later, missionaries found that the church had survived intact, all that time. Without priests, without the sacraments save marriage and baptism, under constant persecution... but intact nonetheless. For two hundred and fifty years. Generations upon generations. God does not abandon His children. We are never alone.
So we live through this Holy Saturday, this time when the Church seems still and silent, with doors locked. It feels for all the world as if Christ is in the tomb. He is not. He continues His resurrection daily with every private mass. Easter is here, still.
This too shall pass.
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