Oblate News

Isolation, Holy Week and Easter

By Brother Michael Moore OMI

Isolation, Holy Week and Easter

The physical aspect of relationship is essential to us as humans. During these challenging times we are now communicating through various forms of social media. While we experience each other as disembodied people, faces and voices brought together through technology there is something crucial and essential missing. It’s not just the smile or the handshake; it is the subtle nuances of communication that arise from being in the same space with another person. It is about the simple joy of and laughing and eating together.

For a while we have had to lay aside this and so much more of our normal daily life and activity – and lets be honest, it hurts. All of this is strangely appropriate as we to go through Holy Week and celebrate in one way or another Easter. In the events that led up to his Passion, the gospels remind us of the slow but gradual collapse of the community Jesus had so carefully built, nourished and sustained. One by one, Jesus had to lay aside all his friends and relationships. His once loyal followers who cried out ‘Hosanna’ now shout ‘Crucify him.’ His closest friends betray, deny and desert him. Jesus is left increasingly alone – until ultimately there is only the final solitude of the tomb.

But hopefully for Christians, there is  purpose in this loss of relationships; a few days after the tragedy of the crucifixion, when he is risen again, Jesus will build his community anew. This time with the bonds and power of love that death can never touch, break or destroy. Jesus sacrifices precious friendships, community and relationships so that ever richer and deeper relationships can grow and flourish.

During these challenging days we are all trying our best our best to deal with the impact of the Coronavirus. We too are being asked to sacrifice social contact and face to face contact, often with those closest to us. We are now being asked to personally to pay the short cost of laying aside being with others for the long term health and wellbeing of us all.

Hopefully all this is not just about hardships, endurance and survival – though in reality it is for some of our brothers and sisters in our own communities and around the world. And yet in these same communities, in our countries and across the world, there are so many individuals and groups of all sorts coming together to reach out to help and support others, especially the most vulnerable. We are I feel beginning to reflect more about what is essential and about the preciousness of time spent with the people we love, treasure and cherish.

Maybe, just maybe, we are discovering a new way of being together. This could be the beginning of a new age, when we learn afresh that community and human flourishing comes not just from money, having things and being over concerned just about ourselves, but of genuine relationships. Maybe by sacrificing for a while, difficult as it, the precious gift of being fully with one another, something sacred and beautiful will flourish as we rediscover anew ourselves, each other and the world. Perhaps these strange and unprecedented days will help us to recover what is most essential in our lives. As Antoine de Saint Exuprey said in his classic book, The Little Prince; It is only with the heart that we can seen clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’

-Br Michael Moore 

Each day we will be making available a short time of prayer and reflection with a member of the Oblate family online at 10am and night prayer at 7pm on YouTube and 9.30pm on facebook. You can take part by tuning in at one of the following locations:

• The Oblates facebook page
• The Oblates Youtube account (click subscribe)
• On our website: www.oblates.ie/ www.oblates.co.uk

We hope you can join us. We invite you to send in any prayer intentions or petitions at this time to communications@oblates.ie