March 26

Readings for the Day: EX 32:7-14, PS 106:19-23, JN 5:31-47

A few days ago, I walked the church campus during my lunch. It was eerie. The parking lot was nearly empty. The hall was hollow. The preschool was silent. The whole campus (outside of the parish office building) was silent. If you plan on dropping by the church for prayer, I encourage you to do the same.

Imagine (as I did) living in a country where the government permanently shut down every church. This is what it would look like. Imagine what we take for granted was outlawed tomorrow. This is what it would sound like.

Lest we forget, people actually live under those unthinkable conditions today.

And here we have been living. Inconvenienced by having to carve an hour out of our Sundays for church. Ducking out of Mass early so we can avoid the world-shaking inconvenience of spending an extra ten minutes on the church campus.

Alright, maybe not all of us, but still…

When the preschoolers return, the Masses are packed, and parking lot traffic jams return, let us never forget what it was like during Lent of 2020.

David is the Director of Faith Formation at Our Lady of Joy.

If you have comments or questions, send your emails to dlins@oloj.org.

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