“How to keep the Faith without going to Church Gatherings”
Biblical Icon:
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘’Increase our faith!’’ The Lord replied, ‘’If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’’ (Luke 17:5-6).
It could be of great importance to elaborate some pages on faith before taking on our precise theme ‘’how to keep faith without going to church gatherings’’. The wish seems to find our limitations as we contemplate the greatness of faith and its outcomes in the lives of the believers (the faithful). Indeed, ‘’ Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life.’’[1]One must remember that faith has made it possible to have the Bible, theology, as well as many other faith outcomes such as doctrines and dogmas, liturgies and sacraments, catechisms, etc.
The profession of the Christian faith makes Disciples. This is the case when it is required to profess the faith before one is baptized. And every Sunday the liturgy allows renewing one's profession of faith together with other believers. Moreover, faith is meant to be lived out in observing God’s commandments as well as in prayer. In our pastoral ministry, we have been asked the very title of this article: ‘’Brother, as we are having difficulties in attending our gatherings in the Church, how do we keep faith during this time of the pandemic?’’
The current situation under the pandemic of covid-19 has raised so many questions as far as people are missing their habitual/normal ways of living. The expression of faith is one of those affected dimensions of human life as we reflect on the question addressed to us. Church gatherings constitute the very essential element of faith expression. To be precise, we can refer to masses as well as many other liturgical gatherings. Before we talk of our very time about this topic, let us make a hint to some similar experiences in the past.
The destruction of the Temple and the deportations of Jews to Babylonia in 586 and 582 could be a fitting Old Testament example to grasp how the '' people of God'' were compelled to live without such a crucial reality of their belief, the Temple. Indeed, the Temple of Jerusalem was the center of worship and national identity in ancient Israel. To keep faith without the temple must have raised some questions related to our topic. How then could the people of God continue expressing their faithfulness to God without their precious Temple where God was most present among his people? For sure, the loss of the Temple affected the Jews as they could no longer gather and worship according to their traditions. However, the Covenant written in their hearts could not be destroyed. Faithfulness to the Covenant was to continue being expressed according to the actual context of an elected people, yet in deportation.
The first three centuries of early Christianity record some contexts in which the persecution of Christians emerged, making therefore difficult for the believers to freely express their faith in Jesus Christ. The early Christian communities also have experienced some similar contexts when their gatherings were accused of instigating people's revolution against the actual socio-political setting… These experiences are not far from so many other contexts of some places/countries—in our time—where Christian Faith is not free to be expressed due to inti-Christ settings in those communities.
The covid-19 pandemic is but a furthermore obstacle to the expression of Christian-Faith through Church gatherings. For sure, the question is relevant either today or in the past since we recognize the significance of being a community in our relationship with God. The history of God’s self-revelation does not stop on an individual level… it involves a community (see the Jewish experience) or the whole of humanity (see the universal saving presence of Jesus Christ). A Christian therefore should always feel missing something when his/her faith cannot be shared with others…
In the Church gatherings, faith is celebrated and professed with other fellow members of the mystical body of Christ. The Eucharistic celebration for instance has these double dimensions of Communion in Christ not only among the present assembly (physically gathered people) but also the very larger Christian community spiritually united in Christ. Here we can grasp the very dear concept of “Spiritual Communion’’ of Christians which transcends any physical obstacles to expressing one’s faith through the obvious communion in the Church gatherings. Let us challenge our self a little bit: It is enough for a Christian to attend the mass just physically while the mind is far away bothered with many other personal concerns? And what if by watching an online mass I feel connected with the whole Christian community in this time of pandemic?
Our intention here is not to substitute the physical gatherings of Christians with their spiritual communion. The most needed thing is to consider the Christian faith as a calling to discipleship which implies communion of the faithful in Christ. It is through this understanding that faith expression through gatherings becomes both physical and spiritual communion. As now we are experiencing the covid-19 pandemic limitations from church gatherings, some alternative ways are being suggested when streaming masses for example help people connect through media. Though mediatic-creativities don't replace the physical gatherings of believers, many are reasons to consider them as an appropriate way to foster the communion of the faithful in Christ during this difficult time of the pandemic. What is my disposition when I follow an online mass, adoration, or rosary? Am I fostering the spiritual communion of the believers much needed in this time of pandemic for us to raise our prayers to God?
It is time for a living faith in prayer! One of the signs of Christian communion is their prayer to God. Indeed, in prayer, God talks to us about his will to our lives and we talk to him about our lives. What we tell God about depends on our faith in Him. It is time to pray and let God know our communion in telling him about our lives. The use of ‘’Oratio Imperata’’ for example makes it clear for the believers the necessity to raise our voices as a single people of God in need to see the end of the pandemic and efficacious assistance to the affected people. In this missionary month, Guido Maria Conforti, a contemporary saint and the Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries—would suggest ‘’the spirit of a living faith’’ in this challenging time. How do we seek, see, and love God in all today? Is the pandemic cutting us off from the communion in Jesus? How do I feel god’s presence in my life during this time of the pandemic? Am I suffering from others? What kind of prayer do I raise to God?
May this reflection remind us of the beauty of our faith expressions as a single God’s family in Christ. Let us live out our discipleship in communion with the Master who invites us to gather in his name. ‘’For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them’’ (Matthew 18:20). May this experience be appropriate to our very contexts in expressing faith in time either of joy or different challenges. It is in Jesus’ Name that Faith is communally expressed by the Disciples.
[1] CCC #26
