Groundhog Day Revisited
These past months of this pandemic have been likened to the movie Groundhog Day, when the main character wakes up to relive the same day over and over again. The futility of it was exhausting for the main character.
Might we all confess to feelings like this? Seriously, we aren’t out of this yet? We live in the Groundhog Day of continual news of depressing statistics of illness, crowded hospitals and overwhelmed healthcare workers. How many people do you know who had to revise plans for Christmas? Some schools found themselves back to virtual learning. Sometimes we need a scorecard to keep track of who is in and out of quarantine. The list goes on of disruptions, disappointments, inconveniences, cancellations, and in some cases severe illness and loss.
The editor of this Newsletter, Michelle Lukas and I were discussing this. She said, “We attempt to continue life as normal, but it's not normal. This in between time is so strange. The constant decision making paired with analyzing risk is exhausting, yet I feel like we need to live life and model living life with faith, not fear.”
It seems we are somewhere between the beginning of this and hopefully a time when it isn’t a main topic of discussion or planning. We are living in this liminal time. We are not here, and we are not there.
I found some direction in Pope Francis’ New Year's wishes to the world. He acknowledged, the pandemic is hard, but he encouraged people to focus on the good which unites us.
The Pope’s words came back to me at our high school sophomore retreat on Catholic Social Teaching this past weekend. The topic itself was uplifting, thinking about how our Catholic Church has held up the dignity of the human person and prioritizes care for the vulnerable. “As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40)
While planning for the retreat I was focused on who couldn’t make it, for one reason or another. But when I got there, I could focus on who was there and how beautiful the retreat experience was! I hope every parent of a student on the retreat or who helped with it, reads this. You can be so proud of your sons and daughters. They conducted themselves with respect for the adults, their peers, and the topic. They processed the ethic of care for others with kindness and maturity. Blessed to have the retreat led by our faithful youth minister, Taylor Baar, and supported by the older teens, college students and adults, the teachings came alive. I felt uplifted. I was witnessing this meaningful formation, of the future church.
Here in our own little community, I saw vibrant faith and care for others. I saw the young church focusing on the good that unites us. This community was living life in faith, not fear. We aren’t out of this pandemic, but we are holding together the threads of faith, and the Church is prevailing through it.
