A Reflection for Covid

Is this a time to focus on the beautiful moments of each day, to live in the present, to trust in the love of God and our love for one another?

Two days after Mary Magdalene watched Jesus suffer and die on the cross, she was back to his tomb to help with the Jewish rituals of death and mourning. It was probably the worst week of her life and yet she got up, got ready and went to the tomb. The devastation she faced after watching Jesus die must have been immense. Mary would have also felt the pain of all the other companions of Jesus: The Apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus and the other disciples. No one would have blamed her for sleeping in. But no, she was up and ready to get on with life, to show compassion for the dead and for those who were mourning. As we know, the story took a very different turn, because Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to Mary Magdalene with a message to go and tell the Apostles. From the depths of depression and despair to the heights of joy and exultation. Does any of this ring true in our own lives? The Risen Christ lives in our hearts and calls us to a relationship of deep love, a love that is stronger than all of the problems we face, a love that is larger than we can possibly imagine.

Please read the well known Gospel passage below about leaning into God instead of being caught up in all out worries about life and the future:

Matthew 6

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Mr Steve O’Neill

Religious Education  Coordinator