DANBURY—Many of our pastors and parish priests have been keeping up with their parishioners through letters, posts and emails. The following reflection is from Father Chris Ford of St. Gregory the Great in Danbury!
Late last week, I received a call from the hospital asking me to minister to a patient who was suffering from COVID-19. He was in the ICU and on a respirator and in complete isolation. Only a doctor and a nurse were allowed in the room. No one outside of essential hospital staff is even able to go on the floors where patients suffering from this illness are being treated—including family members and clergy. So, the only way that I was able to minister to this man was over the phone. I arranged a time with his nurse, called his room phone, and she held the phone up to his ear while I tried to speak some words of comfort and offer a prayer. No sacraments could be given, no hands could be held, no faces could be seen. I was just an anonymous voice on the other end of the phone.
Though, by the grace of God, we may not find ourselves facing the severity of his illness, we are all fighting a similar battle as that man: the battle of isolation. As our routines are shattered and we find ourselves without many of the typical ways we would connect with those whom we love and care for, we are beginning to realize that even the monumental advances in technology are no real replacement for the greatest gift of all: presence.
From the very beginning, God has intended for us to be in communion with one another and to be able to share this experience that we call life with the people around us. In fact, it was not long after God created man that He was convinced, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen 2:18). And, of course, He was right.
The challenge of loneliness is that it brings to the forefront so many things we are often able to push aside with the many distractions the world offers us: our fears, our insecurities, and even our weaknesses and failures. But in the midst of our loneliness, when we find ourselves weighed down and burdened by the challenges of our lives and of the world, God responds with the most gentle and loving invitation: Come to me…and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28).
The whole mission of Jesus Christ is to draw close to humanity, to be present to us in every moment of our lives—this is at the very heart of the Incarnation. As He did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus, He does now for us. In the midst of our confusion and sadness, Jesus Himself draws near and walks with us on the way—fulfilling His greatest promise of all: I will be with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).
Though we may be far from one another, we are never far from the Heart of Christ. In the loneliness and weariness of our lives, Jesus calls us to His very self and to His Sacred Heart that beats with an abundance of love and mercy for all who seek Him. And it is there that He invites us to find the rest and peace for which our hearts are so desperately longing.
Father Chris Ford
Parochial Vicar
