How great are the works of the Lord
Sunday supper was always a big deal when I was growing up. The family gathering could be at my Aunt ( Ciocia ) Sophia’s house or Aunt Alice or Aunt Anna’s home but the gathering was important. Noisy kids and loud uncles. The occasions were always a treat.
This experience continued as an adult and when I married my wife, Anna, it became doubly important. We share the most important food at the table in the Sacrifice of the Mass. However, family meals are the glue that holds our world together.
Both my wife and I worked on Sunday’s. My wife was a nurse and she worked every shift. I was a Postal worker and worked every shift. Doctors, firefighters and police are essential worker’s. They sacrifice their lives to provide the needs of society. We would celebrate any time family is together.
As I read the Gospel today, I thought of all the grocery clerks and paper delivery people that work on Sunday and the families that have to sacrifice the times where those gatherings are either cancelled or delayed. They are essential also. When I lived in North Dakota there were “Blue Laws” which meant that restaurants and grocery stores were closed on Sunday. This was not a great inconvenience. However, most things could wait until the next day. These laws don’t exist today. Sundays or everyday we need people to help us.
“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”
How do we make Holy the Lord’s Day if you are essential ?
How do we maintain social ties during a pandemic?
One of the reasons that homo sapiens flourish is that we adapt. In a recent episode of the PBS channel “Nature” it described how cats have adapted to the needs of the climates they inhabit. They adapted to various climate changes . I believe it was a two part series.
I see that with All Saints day, Thanksgiving and Christmas there are challenges during a pandemic to be social and still have social distancing. Isolation can be a disease and a sickness just like any flu. Jesus was aware of what is important and what is not. He explained to the Pharisees and to us. “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?”
The thought that strikes me most is that Jesus is saying we can adapt to wearing a mask and social distancing and still have close family ties even in the midst of a pandemic. Someone had to cook and serve the meal that Jesus ate with the Pharisees. Someone has to help cure our friends and neighbors in need on the Sabbath and the rest of the week . We still can adapt our close relationships with family and the social ties that bind us.
So to all essential workers thanks for your sacrifice. However, they cannot cure the emotional soul from lack of contact with friends and family. Social isolation is now almost as dangerous as the pandemic. Recently, I had a close friend, Gary, who died in a nursing home from COVID 19. Did I call him enough? Probably not enough calls or Facebook.
There is hope.
We can adapt to wearing a mask and the social isolation that is spreading like wildfire and will get worse as the holiday’s approach.
We can use things like Zoom, Skype and Facebook to build those close ties and prevent isolation. Thanksgiving and Christmas might be more virtual than we can imagine but with God’s grace we can do it. We have other options. Due to God’s Grace and technology. hearing aids are cheaper and accessible. Hearing loss is more common than we realize.
Because of cell phones we can talk. My life is planned out on my cell phone. I have phone numbers and addresses for everyone. When I change phones, the book goes with me. Yes, I have backup.
The pandemic is real and social isolation is real. We can with the Grace of God overcome both. The Sabbath is everyday with God. It is okay to work all the time to build His Kingdom on Earth.
God is still in charge. You are not alone. We will adapt.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
