3/21/20

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

I think we are all starting to fully realize the magnitude of the current crisis. It's starting to get real. Last night I was on the roof of the rectory looking down 6th Avenue and I was struck by how eerie it all was. A Friday night and the streets were empty. Usually Friday nights in the West Village are full of noise emanating from the life of the city, so much so that on the roof we have to talk loudly. But last night the silence was so profound that we could hear a whisper. 

We had just watched the movie "1917" and I thought of our current situation. The movie takes place during WWI in the trenches, and at one point the main characters are in no-man's-land between abandoned trench lines. They are alone on a battlefield of mud and carnage. They find themselves in a massive shell hole, in the water pooled at its bottom, trying to climb out, but only with much difficulty because of all the mud in that artillery-blasted terrain. I thought of now because we are seemingly alone and isolated while the world seems to be wasting away, trying to climb our way out but seeming to get nowhere, and not knowing when the end is or what it will look like. However, our battle is not a matter of warfare and physical combat, nor is it simply a medical and economic challenge, but it is also a serious and challenging spiritual trial. We have to face the spiritual crisis of this moment. 

We face many spiritual difficulties. Our daily lives have been sundered from what we were doing just a week ago, and we have to face that dislocation. Our daily goals, our immediate dreams, our hopes and projects now may seem distant. There is a sense of loss, of incompleteness in that sundering. I've felt it myself– I've been so focused on all the projects at St. Joseph, and now I do not know what will happen. When will McGuire Hall be completed? Or the irony of building a social hall in the time of social distancing! We will build McGuire Hall, but the project will not go exactly as I planned. I've also been planning for the Holy Week liturgies, and now there will be no public Holy Week and Easter liturgies. I'm sure many of you are facing much more profound dislocations– those of you who have lost your jobs, and whose futures are uncertain. How do we spiritually face the dislocation or even loss of our hopes and dreams that just a week ago propelled us through our days?

Then there is the isolation– how do we manage and even thrive in a time of social distancing? I miss seeing all of you every Sunday. We all miss our community here, and our families and friends whom we can no longer spend time with in person. As this pandemic lengthens this challenge will become great. We have to be spiritually ready to handle it.

First, our normal daily routines and habits are mostly gone– we spend our time at home instead of at work, our schedules and daily chores and duties have been thrown into chaos. The first thing is to create new routines. As religious, as Dominican friars, we have what is called a horarium, which literally means 'hours.' It is a daily schedule or routine of prayer and life. We have scheduled daily prayer, time together as brothers, meals together, etc. Create your own horarium. Decide on what you want to accomplish each day– how you should spend the time that has been given you, and then when you are going to do what you decided upon. 

Most important is prayer, especially in these times where the sacraments are not readily available. What we must do is hope and trust in God to support and strengthen us, to guide us through the uncertainty ahead. God is still God, He still has a plan, and is still working for our salvation. God is stronger than a virus! We trust people we know, with whom we have a history and track record. Spend time in prayer with God, encounter the living God, and as we grow to know God better, not as an abstraction but as a Person, then we will start growing in faith and hope and charity. We will learn to trust God because we have come to know God as a friend. Prayer is crucial.

We cannot succeed in the spiritual life, or overcome serious spiritual trials, through our own strength. God gives us strength through prayer. So decide on specific prayers and practices to place in your daily horarium. Here are some suggestions:

    •Read the 4 Gospels or pick 1 and read and discuss it with your family or roommates

    •pray the daily prayers in the Magnificat (it has free online access during the pandemic, https://us.magnificat.net)

    •pray the rosary (especially with your family or roommates– here's how)

    •pray for spiritual communion in this time without Mass (here's the prayer)

    •watch the videos on Formed (we have a parish subscription, at formed.org, to sign up select "I belong to a parish" and put in our zip code, 10014, to find St. Joseph's)

    •learn the faith by watching the free video series "Aquinas 101" put out by the Dominican friars at the Thomistic Institute (https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org)

Something as simple as creating your own horarium and sticking to it will enable you to stay closer to God, to allow His grace to enter your life during this crisis, and provide you the spiritual support you will need to face the spiritual challenges of the moment. This crisis and the dislocation and isolation it has caused have put an opening into our souls that we need to fill with God. Any other path will lead to despair. That is the spiritual challenge we face– not despairing as things continue to worsen. Growing closer to God, grow in spiritual strength, and even joy. God gives graces most especially when times are hard– do not let the graces of this moment slip from your hands. 

Additionally, the friars here will strive to help our community through this crisis. Here's what we're going to offer every week:

    •each friar will put a videotaped sermon on the webpage to offer spiritual support our parish community

    •we will have a weekly discussion among the friars that we will audio record and put on the webpage

    •I'll write you a pastor's letter to let you know what's happening in our parish community

We want to add more as time goes on.

Also, St. Joseph's continues to be open at all the times it was open before. We can hear confessions during the previous confession times, and the church will be open during the former Mass times for private prayer, and we'll expose the Blessed Sacrament at that time. 

We also are ready to help parishioners in need. If you need someone to go shopping for you, email or call the parish. The secretary is answering voicemails and emails from home and will get back to you. 

Also, to combat the isolation that many are suffering, it can be helpful for us to stay in touch with fellow parishioners through phone calls or video conferencing (Facetime, Skype, etc.) Sharing our experiences and trials so far and praying with each other can help cheer us up. If you want to be included on a list of parishioners who want to talk with other parishioners, email or call us and we can create a private list with contact information. 

As we are forced to rely more on virtual technology in this time of social distancing, I have two more points. First, our list of parishioners is through parish registration, which means any parishioner who is not registered is not receiving these emails. If you know unregistered parishioners, please encourage them to register so that they can take part in the virtual parish community we're trying to support with these letters and upcoming videos.

Second, please consider giving online through WeShare or Faithstreet. The old envelope system does not work well in our current situation, and so we encourage all of you to use our online options. There are details on how to use them on our webpage. 

I will continue to keep all of you in my prayers. If you need anything please let us know. We can not only get through this together, but flourish as a community rooted in Christ, growing by His grace even when the world is at its most difficult. May God abundantly bless you,

Fr. Boniface