Dear brothers and sisters in Christ of the Archdiocese of Regina, and all viewers, warm greetings.
As we move towards the celebration of our Chrism Mass next Monday, and prepare for the 5th Sunday of Lent, I would take as a starting point a passage from St. Paul that holds together the three themes I would like to touch upon. Writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12), Paul notes that just as the human body has many parts, so too the body of Christ. I imagine you know the passage well: “the foot cannot say because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body…. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’…. the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” He concludes his metaphorical reflection by saying, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.” Within that framework, I would like to address Solidarity Sunday, then the announcement that restrictions on faith communities in the Regina area will not be lifted before Easter, then a word about the readings from this coming Sunday and the Feast of St. Joseph.
This coming Sunday is Solidarity Sunday, the day designated by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for a collection for Development and Peace’s Share Lent Campaign. During the past year, the bishops and Development and Peace have continued a conversation that began years ago around sponsorship partners. The issue of concern was not the particular projects that D&P was supporting, but that some of the partners took stands or were involved in other initiatives that ran contrary to Catholic moral or social teaching. A recent press statement (https://www.devp.org/en/pressroom/2021/comm2021-02-25) from the bishops and D&P indicated that some partnerships have been discontinued. I have followed this process closely, and am grateful to say that we can wholeheartedly support the Share Lent collection, trusting in the moral and social integrity of Development and Peace partners.
Development and Peace is not one organization among many for the Canadian Catholic Church. It is the organization, founded by the bishops after the Second Vatican Council, by which the Church here stands in solidarity with those in need in other parts of the world. Solidarity Sunday is well named, for the Share Lent collection is precisely a means of standing in solidarity with our needy brothers and sisters the world over. In his Encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis extended the challenge to walk in solidarity in this way: “to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it” (#19). That echoes what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it.” I encourage you to support the Share Lent campaign and to seek ways to stand in solidarity with those in need around us.
The words from St. Paul about when one suffers, all suffer, also speak to the announcement yesterday afternoon that because of the rapid spread of cases of the Covid variant in the Regina region, restrictions in this area will not be lifted prior to Easter. While many of our communities in the Archdiocese will be rejoicing this Holy Week and Easter at the opportunity to celebrate our highest feasts with increased attendance, those parishes in and around Regina will continue to be limited to 30 persons.
While the need to address the rapidly increasing number of cases in Regina is clear, yesterday’s statement does carry with it significant frustration, not only for ourselves but for many faith communities in the region. While others are encouraged to be cautious, the promised move to percentages and increase in numbers for faith communities was held back. Like many of you, I would not have objected to even more stringent restrictions being imposed, if they were accompanied by restrictions in other social contexts. Our churches have not been a place of rampant spread of the virus. We have been exceedingly careful to follow directives. It is very difficult to accept that restrictions are not being imposed more widely, but that faith communities are being asked to carry a particular burden, especially at this most sacred time of the year. The suggestion that the restrictions will be reviewed the day after Easter Sunday is a source of great frustration, a frustration I have already shared with our government liaison team, and echoed by many other faith leaders.
That said, I would ask our city and Regina region parishes to adhere to the restrictions, and to continue to do everything we can to stop the spread of the virus. I would encourage that Regina parishioners not look for parishes outside the city for Holy Week liturgies, risking carrying the variant Covid virus to other places. Let me say the obvious: this is an incredible burden. But Good Friday is all about God taking on suffering out of love. In this Sunday’s Gospel, the Lord tells us that whoever serves him must follow him, adding, “where I am, there also will my servant be.” On Good Friday, that is on the cross, and if our celebrations in parts of the Archdiocese are seriously hindered again this year, let us see that as part of joining our sufferings to that of Christ, that we might know the power of the Resurrection in our lives. Let us bear within ourselves the heart of Jesus Christ, who himself rejoices with the Body rejoicing and suffers with the body suffering.
Finally, a word about this Sunday’s readings. From Jeremiah, we hear the promise of the new covenant that God desires for us: “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people…. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” St. Paul’s image of the body in all its diversity being united, being one, takes on new resonance here. Whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever struggles and joys, sufferings and blessings we experience, we are one in the covenant that God offers us in Jesus Christ. That covenant was sealed by his complete self-gift on the cross, his rising from the dead and promise of the same for us, his sending of the Holy Spirit to be with us. In this Sunday’s Gospel, the Lord tells his disciples, “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” As we prepare for the holiest days of the year, let us remember our unity in the crucified and risen Christ, a source of unity grounded in the very person and mission of God. Let us find each other there.
This coming Friday, we will celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, in this year of St. Joseph. Let us join our voices in praying this prayer to St. Joseph from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter on the Holy Year:
Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen.
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