Eucharist in the Time of Corona

It now is clear that this pandemic will not be over in weeks or months; it is a multi-year pandemic affecting our whole world.  We have been through stark realities and will continue to face new ones.  Starkness carries its own strength; ironically, facing starkness, spiritually we share in its strength rather than being destroyed by it.  

Being a people of Eucharist, we are a people who give thanks to God. In the midst of our stark pandemic realities, my thanksgiving has become both more stark and more strong. Like my prayers of petition, my thanksgiving is stripped down to basic human necessities. And I feel the strength that has come from that unrequested grace. 

Yesterday’s gospel passage (Jn 6:60-69) reflected a stark reality: People who had come to Jesus were now walking away. It included a stark question from Jesus to The Twelve: “Do you also want to leave?” Peter’s answer started with a stark assessment of their reality: “Master, to whom shall we go?” Peter continued with profound clarity of belief: “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” 

How has your pandemic experience been stark? How has facing this starkness brought strength to you as a person of faith, a person of thanksgiving, a person of Eucharist?