All Saints' Parish in Lockdown

This past year has been very difficult for us as Catholics.    So much as changed: we are not able to gather together in our church, our youth gatherings have been suspended and our catechism teaching in preparation for the sacraments has moved from in person to virtual learning and we have lost the ability to meet in person as a community of faith.    For me the hardest has been the loss of receiving the Eucharist on a regular basis – the real presence of Jesus and the source of my strength.   

I was teaching a First Communion catechism class on Zoom and I told the children that the two most important commandments in our faith is to love God and to love thy neighbor.   I came to the realization that loving God and loving thy neighbor can still be done during this pandemic.     We can do this by praying for those who are sick or suffering, doing whatever we can to limit the spread of COVID 19 and by volunteering to help the less fortunate or isolated.   

I believe that during this time, our faith is more important than ever before.  I know that we are all at home and that life at home is very busy but I feel it is important to dedicate sometime each week to strengthen our faith either individually or as a family.    We can do this by;

• Watching the live stream of our Mass on Sundays @ 9:30 am
• Make a daily Act of Spiritual Communion
• Allow our children to watch the  Children’s Liturgy of the Word which is found our YouTube page each week.
• Pray the Rosary for those in need and for an end to this pandemic, especially during the month of May which is dedicated to our Blessed Mother.
• Watch a movie, program or reflection on the FORMED.ORG website which is available through our parish.

The two greatest commandments to love God and to love our neighbor do not change because we are in a pandemic and physically isolated from our family, friends and our community of faith.   It just means we do them differently.