I am amazed of the level of transformation our mode of woship and faith practice had undergone in the past months. I also wondered if Saint Pope John Paul II had a peep into the crystal ball of the future when he encouraged us as a Church to embrace new technologies and even had social media accounts during his Papacy.
I have enjoyed some great virtual spiritual events and retreats with unconventional “convenience” over the past months, but I still hunger for the physical aspect of my faith.
I must confess, I miss receiving Holy Communion. It is like going on a permanent fast.
Praying at home and gazing at the cross or the monstrance on television cannot compare to being physically present at Mass and seeing the “real” in Church. I miss being able to visit the Blessed Sacrament. Can I ever compare attending Sunday Mass at Church with online or TV Mass? Definitely not, but thank God for technology. What would we have done if we had no means of being able to still feel like part of a communion of fellow Catholics?
It always makes me think again about Pope Francis’ homily when he spoke about the “danger of this moment.” We should not think that this “virtual participation” is a substitute for actual participation. He said watching Mass online “is not the church.” “The church, the sacraments and the people of God,” he said, “are concrete.”
Sacraments, we believe are the visible manifestations of invisible realities. They are outward, material signs of invisible realties: that a personal God is entering into an intimate relationship with a individual person. We really need the physical experience to consolidate our spiritual beliefs.
It is my hope and prayer that after COVID-19, we will have our public worship in real Churches back. I pray very soon we will once again be able to go to confession, attend Mass and receive communion from our priests.
All the health protocols that came as a result of COVID-19 have given a different complexion to our faith. Yes, we are a Universal Church, not a “Virtual Global network of smart phones, televisions and computers”. I want my humanity back.
I yearn for my personal and physical relationship with God back. I miss my priests and fellow parishioners. The children playing around and having a great time on our compound. I miss the Meat Pie, Zobo and variety of snacks on sale after Mass. I want to believe you miss your Churches and friends too.
I sincerely pray that our current mode of “data streamed” worship at home will not be the convenient alternative to real worship when we are allowed to return to near normal Masses in the coming weeks.
Thank God for the virtual worship anyway. As we say in Nigeria, “at all, at all, na im bad pass.”
I hope you enjoy this edition.
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
Purest Gold: God's Refining Fire in our Lives »
After salvation, many young Christians wonder if there's anything more to their newfound faith than just the security blanket of "being a Christian." Time and time again, God shows himself as a "refiner," and our lives are as gold. God started leading me in this study to understand what He was doing in my life, as well as in the lives of others.
Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
How to Achieve Business Excellence »
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before Kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” Proverbs 22:29
Spiritual Development for our Youth »
Most of us youth in today's fast moving world are easily thrown off by difficulties and worries.
The theme of conversion is a thread that runs all through Lent, but conversion takes on different aspects throughout the phases of Lent. The first two and a half weeks focused on the interior turning of hearts; the liturgy urges the faithful to reflect and examine consciences thoroughly.
Saint Josephine Bakhita »
Feast Day: February 8
Patron Saint Of: Sudan
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering.
Catholics Must Fast More Intensely This Lent»
The Norbertine Canons of St. Michael's Abbey have created this digital Lenten retreat so that you can journey through this holy season alongside them. If you want to have one of your best Lenten seasons yet, join us in our Lenten Program "The Great Fast" - https://theabbotscircle.com/the-great-fast-join
When Your Faith Is Put to the Test - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon»
Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
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