January 30, 2022 Message from Fr. Blauvelt
Not too many years ago, when Americans by the thousands flocked to Europe for relatively short bus tours of the continent, comedians would quip: “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium”. Hoping to shed light on the absurdity of any attempt to “experience 7 countries in a week” by ignoring the constraints of time and distance, they forced us to look at ourselves and, hopefully, laugh at our unrealistic expectations. In order to “get the best bang for our buck”, tourists were required to engage in whatever mental gymnastics necessary to disengage from the realities around them and “soldier on”, crashing through cathedrals, palaces, museums, markets, and souvenir shops with only moments to spare—to live in an alternate reality far removed from the headaches and heartaches of daily life.
In many ways, the past 2 years of Life in Covid Time have required the same sort of disengagement from so much of what once gave our lives content and meaning. The mental check-list of stuff in purses or pockets we review whenever walking out the door has, by necessity, expanded to include an emotional piece as well: do I feel safe? Will my itinerary take me to places and among people I can trust to do their part to shield me from disease and the possibility of an untimely and lonely death?
For the first time in a long time, managing a sometimes overwhelming level of fear for our lives and well-being has entered into every calculation we make in deciding where to go, who to see, how long to tarry, mask on or off, and what about hugs and kisses. Defensive measures once restricted to the unfortunate residents of the inner city or those imprisoned by abuse are now the experience of everyone. It’s certainly no surprise that such distrust borne of fear has fanned the flames of division, anger and hatred, especially here in the United States.
Yet the difficult road out of this morass is not one that any of us can travel alone. If we’re going to get out of Covid Time alive and intact, we will need to relearn how to do it together. Rebuilding trust never comes easily, and arises only when loving intention to set oneself aside for the good of all—the Common Good—becomes our guiding virtue.
Like it or not, we are all in this adventure called Life together. A wise theologian once said of the salvation given in the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus: “If we are saved at all in Christ, we are saved together.” I am as dependent on you and everyone else in my struggle to survive and thrive as you are and everyone else is. “Blessed be the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love”, proclaims the old evangelical hymn. God would have it no other way, I’m sure.