Dear Friends,
You probably know people who met online, got to know each other, fell in love and got married. It is not uncommon anymore that people meet through online services and get married. I have had a few of those weddings and those couples are very happy together. What I have never encountered is anyone who has gotten married without ever physically encountering each other, no one I know has simply had a love relationship and a marriage online. It may begin online, but it cannot stay online.
Or you may know people whose love relationship has had to survive over long distances. Perhaps job, military assignment or study forces couples apart for months or years at a time. Their love survives with phone calls, Facetime or other ways to remain connected over the miles. It is not ideal but it works if there are no other options.
Physical presence. It matters. We human beings are physical beings, not disembodied intellects. Our imagination can take us a long way but there is a world of difference between a photo or video of something and the reality itself. You may have seen photos of the Eiffel Tower but it is entirely different experience to stand under it. You may have seen videos of the Grand Canyon but to walk down into the canyon gives you a much better appreciation of its size and grandeur.
One of the challenges of the Covid crisis with social distancing is we were forced to be apart. As a parish, we had to quickly adapt. We had to make due with what was available to us. We had to continue our parish community and our love relationship with God through the gift of online video. Thanks to a great crew, we were able to do it quite well. For some of you, the resources we offered kept your spirituality alive during this tough year. For others, the online resources were an introduction to a deeper relationship with God that would not have happened without them.
We plan on continuing to offer Masses online as well as other online resources for spiritual growth. Thanks to everyone who donated and who continue to donate, we are able to provide the resources. Our new website has seen a 60% increase in usage and new people are subscribing to our YouTube Channel each week. This is great.
We do, however, have to find the balance between what we offer in person and what we offer online. A community cannot exist only online; a love relationship cannot exist only in cyberspace. We human beings require physical presence. One of the first things we are shifting back to “only-in-person” is our monthly Taizé Prayer service. As a recent visitor said to me, “that is an incredible prayer experience, do the people of Omaha even know it is here? It should be filled.” I know that on my silent retreats I have grown in deep appreciation for the other retreatants who gather in the chapel to pray with me. They change me and I change them simply by our being in the same physical space together. That happens too when we gather for Taizé and pray together. We may not speak to each other but we shape each other by our physical and spiritual presence.
The Archbishop has announced that May 23rd, the Feast of Pentecost, in the Archdiocese of Omaha we will return to the obligation along with the wider Church in attending Sunday Eucharist. If you are not physically able or have health issues, you can still simply watch the Mass online. Being physically present though brings with it many rewards, primarily the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, in the Scriptures and in the community. Those graces cannot come to us online, just like we cannot truly live out a marriage online. We are physical creatures. We need the presence of each other.
One last thing. Speaking of gathering in person, mark your calendars – August 14. The parish is going to have a party to celebrate the end of the pandemic. More details to come!
Peace,
Fr. Damian