This week’s (March 28) pastoral letter of the New Zealand bishops invites the Catholics of Aotearoa to greater maturity of faith in the face of the coronavirus restrictions.

When we began this Lent five weeks ago, we could never have imagined that we would soon be confined to our homes and deprived of the sacraments of the Church, which we know to be essential.

The bishops write that they are inspired by the generous response of parishioners to this unexpected lenten penance and are clearly excited by the evidence that people are encountering Christ within their own homes as they pray together, following the live-streaming of Masses and other communal times of prayer, reading the Scriptures alone or with families, and praying the rosary and other devotional prayers.

While it may seem as though our faith and mission is restricted and even confined in these weeks, we know that we are united with people of faith in every nation on earth who are also deprived of the life-blood of the Church.

But we know too that the Church was born in closed rooms where the first disciples gathered. It was in these confines that the risen Jesus broke through locked doors and fearful hearts to re-form the Church.

We understand well that the sacraments are an indispensable source of relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore we rightly do all we can to participate in the Mass every Sunday and take part in the sacramental life of the Church – ensuring that children are baptised, and receive Eucharist and reconciliation, and that the sacraments of marriage and anointing of the sick are celebrated whenever necessary. We understand well that the sacraments provide a beginning point for faith.

Perhaps we appreciate less fully that the sacraments are also a summit point of relationship with Jesus Christ. The person who comes to a priest to confess sins, receive communion or to celebrate marriage or anointing of the sick has decided before they meet the priest that they will celebrate these sacraments. They live therefore with the desire for these sacraments, which has already led to their decision to make the phone call, send the email or to get in the car. These people are already experiencing the grace of the sacrament they seek.

The coronavirus lockdown awakens us to our desire for the sacraments, precisely because they are unavailable to us. But the bishops are reminding us that the desire we experience is itself the life of faith. Our deep longing for the sacraments is proof that we do have faith and that the life of Jesus Christ is already vibrant within us.

The bishops remind us that the sacraments of the Church, instituted by Jesus, are the usual tools of trade for the priest as minister of the grace of Jesus Christ. However, when a priest is not available (or when we celebrate a year of jubilee), the Church enthusiastically takes extraordinary steps to indulge those who seek God with an abundance of God’s mercy through indulgences.

In this situation, the Church is able to be even more generous with God’s mercy, and the method for this mercy is the gift of the indulgence.

Fr Merv Duffy, SM, writing in the Marist Messenger a couple of years ago, concluded his reflection: “Indulgences have a very long history in the Church. They have encouraged virtuous actions and helped many people on their path to salvation. . . . [I]ndulgences are a simple and concrete support and encouragement for practices that should be part of the life of every Catholic.”

• Fr John O’Connor is director of the National Liturgy Office 

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This question in Psalm 137, from a time when God’s chosen people were in exile, echoes down the centuries to our time, when most nations are in the very strange land of a coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic.

In New Zealand, restrictive measures have implemented to slow the spread of the virus.

For Catholics, the greatest impact is being felt in the cessation of Masses – announced by the New Zealand bishops on March 20 – and in not being able to visit churches to pray and spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Writing before the Government announcement was made about the country going into lockdown – other than for essential services – the bishops acknowledged the disappointment the decision on cancelling Masses would bring to many. They also noted that many would be pleased that this sacrifice was made in order to promote the public good.

It was only a few weeks beforehand that 3000 people had gathered in the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau for the joyous episcopal ordination Mass of Bishop Michael Gielen.

At that time, many were well into their Lenten preparations, looking ahead to Holy Week and the Triduum and the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord.

But all of a sudden, a feast (even in Lent) became a famine. Joy and expectation turned to anxiety about what the future might bring. Then the nation hunkered down into lockdown mode.

“Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion,” Psalm 137 also stated. Many Catholics will identify with this verse at this time.

We are weeping now – not only for the pain and suffering overseas we see with horror, but for the scattering of the Lord’s flock here and elsewhere.  

As the Book of Ecclesiastes says, there is indeed a time to weep.

But that chapter in Ecclesiastes noted that no-one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. It also stated that there is nothing better for people to do while they live than to do good.

Catholics need only to look to their history, to their saints, to see the good that the Lord can raise up in dire circumstances of illness and disease.

There are the saints who actively tended to the sick, or who arranged for their care. St Aloysius Gonzaga, St Charles Borromeo, St Damien of Molokai, St Teresa of Kolkata – these are some of the names that spring to mind. There are many more. It would be useful to seek their intercession at this time, in praying for the sick and for those caring for them.

Most Catholics in New Zealand will not be called to take such measures as these saints. In fact, all, other than those providing essential services, should obey the Government directives to stay at home, acting as if they too had the virus.

Catholics are usually called to be saints in their own place, in their own time, in their own circumstances. For most during this time, that place will be their own home, up until the lockdown ends.

Some of the great names in the Church spent long times in isolation or near isolation – for instance, St Basil, St Gregory of Nazianzsus, St John Chrysostom, St Jerome – and this was part of a deliberately ascetic way of living the Lord’s call. (Although the New Advent website notes that some other hermits were not “models of piety”).

Will Catholics today find it easier to be “models of piety” during the time of lockdown? If there are many people in a home, it might be harder than usual to get away to a quiet place for prayer. Family tensions might be exacerbated. Patience will be called for. As 1 Peter 5:8 cautions: “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”

During the lockdown, Catholics will not have the immediate consolation of the liturgy, of the Eucharist, of many aspects of their normal, community life as a Church.

But as the New Zealand bishops wrote in a pastoral letter, the life of Jesus Christ communicated to us through the Church remains open to us. There are still spiritual resources, streamed celebrations of Mass and social interactions available online.  

And who knows what good will arise out of this time of “lying fallow” as a Church community?

We have to hope that, whatever inconveniences, trials, suffering and tragedies arise out of this pandemic, God will ultimately bring good out of it.

This is the pattern of Easter. Let this be our hope.

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