The Church admits it, home is hard

KOTA KINABALU (CS) – Locked down by the pandemic and being stuck at home for the last 35 days has been a test for Catholic families, said the head of the Kota Kinabalu Archdiocese, Archbishop John Wong.

In a communiqué released on Apr 15, a day after the MCO was extended for the third time (Apr 15-28), the prelate cherishes the hope that each family, after being put to the test, will find the grace to come out of this test, not lapsed but blooming in their Catholic faith.

But this will not become a reality without sincerely and constantly praying for one another for patience, acceptance and appreciation of each other feed on prayers.

The Church admits it, home is hard. Stuck at home together, we soon discover new things about ourselves and others – and not all of them are good. But precisely, in prayer we will also discover that it is in the pain of family life that we meet God.

Home is where we learn “endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – forgiveness”, says the Catechism, and “above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life”. (CCC 1657)

Archbishop Wong has acknowledged, not once but over his recent pastoral letters to the faithful, that it is undeniable that our exile from Mass is a painful circumstance, but in some ways it is a great opportunity.

Claiming that the Lord has not left us suffering without a blessing, he underscored that the deprivation of the actual Easter celebrations has made the faithful more keenly aware of the liturgy, prayed more deeply and participated more actively in the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord from our homes, also called “the domestic church”..

There is no substitute for the actual yearly celebration of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, admitted the Archbishop, “but if we have eyes to see, we will always find reasons enough to be thankful to God”. By this, he attributed the active following of the Easter Liturgical celebration through the communication technology and the internet as God’s enormous graces and blessings to his people who met with hard times. – AC