ON BEING ISOLATED

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The second reading for the mass during the day on Pentecost Sunday (May 31,2020) gave me plenty of food for mediation this morning. Like most people, I suppose, my thoughts constantly return to the present pandemic and its effects everyone in the world. Read this passage from the perspective of the world-wide attack of the covid-19 virus:

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;

there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. (1 Cor 12:4 -7, 12-13)

The last six lines caught my eye as I was reading. During this time of isolation, a millions of people are feeling the effects of being cut off from physical contact with their fellow humans, these verses above encourage us to take some time to notice the spiritual reality that we are all one with our brothers and sisters around the world.

Think about it: Why do most of us feel badly about being "cut off from everyone else?" It seems to me that the deepest answer is found in Paul's words to the Corinthians: "... a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body..." As we sit in front of our televisions or computers and watch the news from around the world, instead of feeling isolated, we might look at these broadcasts through Paul's eyes: These are my brothers and sisters who are dying or starving or being killed. They are members of Christ just as I am.

It's frustrating, of course, to watch the news and not be able to do anything to help our brothers and sisters in need. Each of us should pray to the Holy Spirit to help us to respond in the way the Lord needs us to. But the task gets much easier the closer we get to our own homes where we live under the same roof with others, or have various ways of staying in touch with relatives or friends who need our encouragement and love.

I just read an article in the New York Times in which a psychologist offered a practical step to avoid getting depressed during this period of being shut inside. Guess what the secret was? Concentrate on being kind, generous and considerate toward others! We're made that way, this doctor said, and so we'll feel much better if we concentrate not on ourselves and our own needs and desires, but on the needs of those around us.

Hmm. Maybe Paul was on to something?