I Would Never Have Believed

It is not about politics, but rather about our reality of life. If somebody would have told me 10 years ago that would work in the USA, that I would have to reach my parishioners only by email because everything was shut down, I would never have believed it.

Unfortunately, it is real and I am in the middle of it.

I am looking today at the book from Amazon that was just published with the help of two wonderful women, Joanne and Jessica. This book wrote itself day by day from the very beginning of our COVID restrictions. I remember that Friday when all pastors received an email with a very sad message: we cannot have public Masses until further notice. This was the day when I sent my first email to the parishioners at Pax Christi. At that time I didn't realize that those emails would go until my last day at Pax.

Today I can tell you how hard it was for me to tell my beloved people: you will have to watch the Holy Mass online. I remember this very first Mass in the empty Church with a camera staring at me. How to say: "The Lord be with you?" There are no faces, no people, no communion of the faithful united with the living God. The only way to enter my parishioners' homes was Holy Mass and daily emails. It was some kind of spiritual loneliness, something that gave me an experience of the prayer of our Lord in the Gethsemane garden.

Today I have a copy of all those emails that contained our frustration, uncertainty, but also our faith and hope in God. It is hard to believe, but it was 10 months ago and it seems that we are still in the same confusion. For the last six months I have been in Woodland Park continuing my work for the spiritual goodness of people. So many things that I said before are still very much present and very much valuable to us.

I began my emails with the words of St. Paul and I would like to give them to you again:

"Grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to liberate us from this present wicked world, in accordance with the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Gal 1:3-5) (The Jerusalem Bible)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SZ66RDN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_966bGb2136586