Dear Friends,
We live in difficult times and the news of not being able to attend Mass leaves the majority of us in shock. We don’t know what to think. Also, confinement changes everything in our life, daily routine, relationships, family, community, work and movement. After the initial shock, we are trying to make sense of this trial. If we allow God’s wisdom to guide us, we might even find in it a deep benefit. In fact, is a great opportunity for us to deepen the fact that our Christian Worship should always be not only physical but also “in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:23-24); with our heart and not only with our lips (see Matthew 15:8, Isaiah 29:13); entering into our inner room, closing the door of our senses and praying to God (see Matthew 6:6) who is spirit (John 4:23-24).
We often take for granted that the Mass is a right, while in fact the Mass is a Present from God. We take for granted that we have Priests while in fact they also are a Present from God. Without Priests there are no Masses! We need to pray for our priests, seminarians and for vocations to the Priesthood.
Today, what is available and offered to us is to attend Mass via the internet. It a challenge for us but it is also, paradoxically, a huge blessing. God is inviting us to really appreciate the beauty and spiritual depth of the Mass. He wants us to go deeper into it. How can this happen?
1- We have been constantly aware of the direct link between the Liturgy of the Word and Lectio Divina. The latter is the digestive process of the Grace received during the Liturgy of the Word. Today, in our confinement, let us take the opportunity to receive the Grace of Jesus’ Word for us today. Let us renew our practice of Lectio Divina in order to enter deeper into the first part of the Mass.
2- Also, in the second part of the Mass, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, when the moment of Communion arrives, when the Priest invites us to do a “Spiritual Communion”, we need to really do it, opening our heart to Jesus who wants to come and dwell in us. More so, we can take a silent time right after our Spiritual Communion, in a “Prayer of the Heart” like attitude, in order to benefit from the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We can also, at any other designated time, resume the Prayer of the Heart, continuing to benefit from our Spiritual Communion.
Lectio Divina and Prayer of the Heart are intimately connected to the two Liturgies of the Mass, they allow us to digest the Grace of God received and benefit spiritually from it, grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus and discover in Him new depths.
During this time of confinement, God is calling us to the desert. He wants to talk to our heart and wants to offer us exceptional graces, drawing us closer to Him and revealing to us new dimensions in our Christian life. (see Hosea 2:14)
After this time of desert, by the Grace of God, we will go back to normal life, but it will be a transfigured Christian life, having benefitted from many graces given during this special time. It will be a new start.
Let us pray for each other, entrust each other to Our Lady, entrust our Country and all countries to Her and the entire World. Let us entrust the sick and the prisoners. May the Grace of Our Lord be always with us.
Please pray for me.
Jean Khoury
Sunday 22nd March 2020
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