An old holiday standard, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” includes this line: “Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight.” As we transition into the New Year, we would like to think that the troubles of 2020 would be “out of sight.”
There is hardly a need for me to rehearse the troubles of 2020. Headlining those troubles was, of course, COVID-19. As has been said, many times, many ways, the coronavirus pandemic has radically altered how we live, work, socialize and worship. For many, it is an annoyance and an inconvenience. For many others, it has meant death or grave illness, leaving many families and friends in grief. For still others, it has meant the loss of jobs and evictions from homes. Still others have found themselves hemmed in by isolation.
Yes, in 2021 we do indeed hope and pray that such troubles will be “out of sight.” But will they? As of this writing, at least one pharmaceutical company has received governmental approval for its vaccine with more approvals expected. Surely, this is good news, and I would encourage everyone to receive a morally compliant COVID-19 vaccine. I hope, too, that the archdiocese will play a constructive role in helping ensure that vaccines will be distributed equitably and, above all, that they will be effective in finally getting the virus under control. That said, we have a long road ahead of us.
Predictions vary, yet it seems reasonable to believe that it will take time, and plenty of it, for a “new normal” to emerge. In the meantime, we should not expect the pandemic to loosen its grip on us any time soon. If we are COVID-weary now, we might expect to be even wearier by February or March. So, it seems, our troubles are not yet “out of sight.”
How, then, are we, as women and men of faith, to approach and embrace the New Year? First, we might reflect on St. Paul’s question in his Letter to the Romans: “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? (Rom 8:35). To this list we might add, “COVID-19”! As terrible a toll as this pandemic has taken on so many people, communities and nations, not even this pandemic can separate us from the love of Christ.
But you may say, “COVID has kept me away from going to Mass and I haven’t received Our Lord in holy Communion in months.” For many of you that is true. And, while I heartily encourage you to take part in livestreamed and broadcast celebrations of holy Mass, and warmly commend the practice of making a “spiritual Communion,” I recognize that the online experience is not the same as taking part in the liturgy in person.
For that reason, we are trying to think ahead. Someday soon, we hope, the pandemic will fade away and we will be able to return to Mass without restrictions. But let us not count our chickens before they hatch! Some may not feel comfortable returning to church for a long time to come.
Many of our number, even before the pandemic, stopped attending Mass regularly and many others have lost sight of the Church’s authentic Eucharistic faith. So, it was decided that 2021 would be a year of preparation for “The Year of the Eucharist” to take place in 2022. It will be a time of renewing our Eucharistic faith, bearing witness to it, and reaching out to those who, for whatever reason, do not see its centrality in their lives. The enduring, long-term goal is to reignite Eucharistic faith throughout the archdiocese.
If we make one New Year’s resolution let it be this: to be renewed in our Eucharistic faith. If our friendship with the Eucharistic Lord is alive and well, many blessings will flow upon each of us, upon our families and parishes, and upon the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Perhaps our troubles will not be “out of sight” but a path to holiness and wholeness will surely be in view.
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