My abrupt final days as a tutor at McQuaid Jesuit High School coincided with the famed Rochester Lilac Festival when a glorious garden in the middle of the city is filled with flowers and fragrance and visitors coming to soak it all in. A few weeks later I yearned to be back with the students and our jokes and routines and even the boring vocabulary tests.
We could all use a pick-me-up in the midst of the coronavirus and round-the-clock news coverage. Here is a hodge-podge of positivity. Some signs of Easter surrounding us. A comical collection of videos, poems, art, and Tweets. Something to put a smile on your face.
Churches are empty these days. Even if they open up again soon, the norms of physical distancing will necessarily limit the way that we pray together. No more hugs and handshakes. No more chalices. No more songbooks, holy water fonts, or donuts after Mass. At least, not yet.
Is it really the Easter season? Despite the coronavirus pandemic gripping the world, there are signs of Easter around us. The Jesuit Post is launching a new series for the rest of the Easter season to share stories of hope and joy that we encounter in the world. Do you need some of that in your life today? Check out the first article in the series!
Gardening does not need to be about perfection; it can help us remember that God is the one who is in control.
A poem from Chris Williams, S.J. opens us up to understanding a little more deeply what it is to love God and to receive God’s love in return. Williams says, “I think a parent knows best / What it means to love someone purely, / Not for what they get from them.”
With sheltering-in-place during the coronavirus pandemic, it can feel like the only option for liturgy is watching a live-stream Mass on a screen. But the Mass isn’t the only form of liturgy in the Catholic Church. What do you know about the Liturgy of the Hours? It’s a form of liturgy that can be prayed anywhere, with anyone. And it’s a very participatory prayer, which makes it great for small groups and families. Learn more about it here, along with how you can put it into practice in your own home!
If the spiritual life is learning to wake up, or to see, even, this would imply a gradual process. Confusion, anxiety, disorientation, and grief are not excluded from the Easter experience.
The grace of the Fourth Week is to enter into the joy and consolation of Jesus as he savors the glory of the Resurrection.
On this Good Friday, Jesuit rapper, Michael Martinez S.J. produced a music video in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.