Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is
isolation.
Yes there is panic
buying.
Yes there is even
death.
But,
They say that in
Wuhan after so many years of noise
you can hear the
birds again.
They say that after
just a few weeks of quiet
the sky is no longer
thick with fumes
but blue and gray
and clear.
They say that in the
streets of Assisi
people are singing
to each other
across the empty
squares,
keeping their
windows open
so that those who
are alone
may hear the sounds
of family around them.
They say that a
hotel in the West of Ireland
is offering free
meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman
I know
is busy spreading
fliers with her number
through the
neighborhood
so that the elders
may have someone to call on.
Today Churches,
Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to
welcome
and shelter the
homeless, the sick, the weary.
All over the world
people are slowing down and reflecting.
All over the world
people are looking at their neighbors in a new way.
All over the world
people are waking up to a new reality.
To how big we really
are.
To how little
control we really have.
To what really
matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we
remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not
have to be hate.
Yes there is
isolation
But there does not
have to be loneliness
Yes there is panic
buying.
But there does not
have to be meanness.
Yes there is
sickness.
But there does not
have to be disease of the soul.
Yes there is even
death.
But there can always
be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices
you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the
factory noises of your panic
The birds are
singing again.
They sky is
clearing,
Spring is coming,
and we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of
your soul
and though you may
not be able
to touch across the
empty square,
Sing.
Father Richard
Hendrick, OFM
March 13, 2020
