We live in an age when everything threatens to polarize, politics, policy, even on subjects where we agree to the end –to help the poor, there is a battle amongst those with the power to act, on how best to address it. It is the antithesis of what the Church established on Earth is to be; the early Church was marked by being of one heart and one mind, Christ’s heart, Christ’s mind, in all things. It was a community and we know this from how they were described by those who witnessed their acts. “Look at how they love each other.”
Today, we need to remember the vision of the Church, as the Body of Christ, and love the whole body by how we live. We need to ask those who have, to give to those who need, both on the micro and macro level. The corona virus reveals how much we moved amongst each other before the virus in work and in life without seeing, how much of our lives were spent getting to and fro without necessarily noticing those around us who might be in need.
Being at home, if we have jobs, we must count ourselves among the blessed, with an obligation to give. If we are healthy, we must count ourselves among the blessed, with an obligation to serve. If we are among those who do not feel the pinch of this reality, we are obligated to do the pinching ourselves, for our neighbors, or we will be like the rich man with Lazarus at the gate, comfortable in this life, without recognizing Christ in His distressing disguise.
The evidence of love is sacrifice and nowhere is it more evident than on the cross. The evidence of an absence of love, is a lack of sympathy or empathy for those who might suffer by our actions or inactions.
Right now, as a society and as a world, we are wrestling with the wrong question, when we fight for some goods – say preserving the economy, over other goods – preserving the lives of the vulnerable. It is time for the Catholic element of the world, the salt and the light we’re supposed to be, to invest in creative 'both and'-type solutions, that don’t let whole swaths of people become the pawns of the wealthy elite who want countries and markets to reopen yesterday, or the alternative Darwinian economic consequences of perpetual quarantine on some families and businesses.
We need to be the Catholic thinkers demanding that the government lift the burdens from the people, and push on the businesses that in ordinary times enjoy perks and privileges and benefits from merely being wealthy by calling and asking for better outcomes from policy than rewards for special friends.
We need the bishops and priests and cardinals and deacons and all people of faith asking the schools and universities and sports and corporations to treat those they employ as brothers and sisters rather than surplus that merely hurts the bottom line. The saints spoke to those in power about their obligations to the world, to the poor. Now is the time to speak.
We can look back to the Jubilee of Mercy and make a willful, deliberate decision as a Church family to live it out. How? We can start with the Corporal Works of Mercy, and go from there.
Care for the sick. When we wear masks, we protect the vulnerable. When we donate to local restaurants that are feeding the staff at hospitals, we are also caring for those who care for the sick, and that counts.
Visit the Imprisoned. Everyone right now is isolated. Everyone feels something of being lonely. Call on your friends. Call on your family, call on your neighbors. It helps, and it is visiting the imprisoned. Write letters to those stationed overseas, and to those who found themselves far from home when the stay at home orders took over. You will bring light to their hearts.
Feed the hungry. We can fill the pantries. If every registered family gives just a little, the pantries can overflow with 12 bushels after. There isn’t a reason not to, we know there is need.
Give a drink to the thirsty. With a world-wide pandemic, the immediate needs of the local community sometimes dwarf the reality of those who all along have suffered who we do not see. Resolve to find a charity that provides water to the needy in places where it is most needed and make a gift in reparations for all the times we’ve not recognized another’s thirst.
Clothe the naked. We are home. We have the time. Clear out the closet of that which is beyond what is really needed, because this is an opportunity, to really consider, how much we need, and how much we have, and how much others need that do not have.
Bury the dead. We cannot do this, but we can mourn with those who mourn. We can add all the souls who died today of the coronavirus to our rosary and offer Masses on their behalf. We can remember those who cannot go and mourn over those they love, with cards and prayer bouquets and regular check-ins, because grief doesn’t have a vanishing point where we are guaranteed we don’t feel the ache of someone missing, even with the hope of one day seeing them again.
Life as we all know is a gift and a limited time offer. Right now, we have the time to offer. Now is the time to offer. If we do this, we will be salt and light to the world, and the world will see, "Look how they love each other," by how we treat the world.
(Sherry Antonetti, author of The Book of Helen, is freelancer and blogger at @Chocolate For Your Brain!)
