Catholic during coronavirus

Since the beginning of the coronavirus shutdown, eating was never banned, only eating out in restaurants. Talking and writing were never banned, only restricted to the bare essentials in public places. Praying was never banned, only praying in groups in public places. Listening to music was never banned, only going to public concerts. Drinking alcohol was never banned, only drinking at public bars. And get this: masses were never banned, only public masses. 

As Catholics, we believe that the Holy Mass is the most important prayer. Jesus's sacrifice on the cross is what saved the world and Holy Mass is the continuation of that sacrifice. The continuation, not the repetition, as protestants think, (there is a difference) of that sacrifice. On the night that he instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus said: "Do this in memory of me." That's a direct order, and it's in the Bible. God made himself man and came to earth to save us from sin, but He doesn't just magically wipe all our sins away. First, we still have freedom of conscience. We can choose to believe and act like we believe, or we can choose to disbelieve and act however we want. Second, He wants us to participate in our salvation. Our prayers are important and can be very influential, even if, sometimes, that influence is worked only upon our own attitude and not our circumstances; even if sometimes, our prayers are not answered in the way we'd hoped for or expected. "Ask, and you shall receive." Jesus said. "Where two or more gather in my name, there I will be." He instructs us to be persistent in prayer, like the widow asking the judge for justice. Prayer (and especially the mass) is important for our salvation because inevitably, we are the ones who choose whether or not to receive the gift. It is also important for the salvation of the world because through prayer, many come to be saved. 

Therefore, it is vitally important that masses continue to be said. Mass is essential. 

Throughout this whole coronavirus shutdown, masses were never banned. Private masses have continued to be said, every day, the whole time. Many of them were made virtually public through television and online streaming. Listening to mass online is not, obviously, the same as attending mass with your whole community in a church. We are missing out on the community part, and we cannot physically receive communion. Community is important; we cannot grow in faith or be challenged without community. Community forces us to compromise, to rethink our ideas, to consider other points of view. This is essential on our path to sainthood. Receiving the Holy Eucharist is also important, it is physical, spiritual food. 

However, receiving the Holy Eucharist is not a Sunday obligation. Attending mass is. You may attend mass and not receive Holy Communion. You may do this all year. Catholics in good faith, who have been baptized, have received their First Holy Communion, have no unconfessed mortal sin and are not living in a sinful situation have only a once a year obligation to receive the Eucharist. Catholics who have good reason to avoid going to mass, (for health reasons or other) may also be dispensed from presence at a public mass. In this exceptional time, Bishops are following directives from the government, in the best interests of the general population (to their best knowledge) and have cancelled public masses. But mass continues on: every day, across the world, at all hours of the day, priests are saying private masses and we can virtually join some of them, thanks to public media, in continuing this most sacred rite of salvation. 

None of this is unprecedented. Services in Churches in 1918 were also cancelled because of the Spanish Flu. Clearly, they started up again afterwards. 

Until soccer programs start up again and the government is still banning church services, I refuse to worry about the so-called government conspiracy to ban church going. If that happens, then and only then, will I start to worry. For the record, the Bundesliga in Germany started up just this past week, and apparently, Churches in Germany have begun public masses since before that. So that's a good sign that I probably have nothing to worry my head about.

There are people out there who believe that the whole coronavirus shutdown is a conspiracy between the elite and governments, or an experiment to see if they can control our lives. They refuse to believe that there was ever any danger from this disease. There are also people out there who think everything should be shut down until the virus is eradicated despite what that would do to the economy or people who can't just work from home. People need to eat. They also get depressed (well, extroverts do, anyway) if they are in isolation for too long. The goal of the shut down was to slow down the virus, it was never to eradicate it, and I am pretty certain that it was never to permanently shut down churches either. 

As far as I can see, governments are mostly doing their best, with the information they have, and the varying points of view on how to deal with the situation, through trial and error - and yes there will be errors - to keep deaths to a minimum, (as a pro-life people, we Catholics should appreciate this) and as far as possible, protect the general public. Most of us will likely get the disease but, by slowing down the rate at which we catch it, presumably, those of us who need urgent care will have access to that care from health professionals who are neither burnt out nor busy with hundreds of other similar patients. 

Things are already starting to reopen. I will just sit here and wait for the rest to reopen. I am just thankful that I am not in the position to make the decisions for the general population myself, and thus I am spared the criticism on all sides that it is either being done all wrong, that too much is being done or that not enough is being done. Who am I to complain? None of the rest of us would find the perfect solution that no one could find fault with either. To be honest, not even Jesus, were he head of the government right now, be able to implement any kind of policy without having half the population criticizing it for one reason or for the exact opposite reason. These are difficult times, no one has a perfect solution, no one really knows much about this virus, and I think that exceptional understanding should be granted towards those who do have to make the decisions. 

In the meantime, we can learn from the saints about the spiritual desert, about individual meditation, the hermit's life and more. All of these things are great ways in which to grow in faith while waiting for churches to reopen to the public again.