Even with a fresh new year and the rollout of vaccinations for COVID-19, it can be tough to “shake the dust of our feet” from an unwelcome 2020. Masking and distance regulations are still in place, and traumas of the losses of loved ones, unemployment, and financial hardship due to the pandemic remain fresh.
What, then, to make of this nascent 2021? How can faithful continue to walk with hope? Priests are in the business of helping people find hope, and when asked for advice, those in South Jersey urged people to find inspiration in the Scriptures and in knowing that, especially during hard times, people are capable of personal growth, generosity and even heroism.
“We’re looking for the light at the end of this tunnel, but God wants to show us the light, that is right there in the darkness,” says Father Kevin Mohan, administrator of Atlantic City’s Parish of Saint Monica.
Referencing the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25: 14-30), Father Mohan added, “We shouldn’t bury 2020, but understand what it has taught us,” such as the importance of faith, community and connection, and live accordingly.
Our Lady of Hope Parish, Blackwood’s parochial vicar, Father John March, also drew on the New Testament when asked about how to think about the new year. He recalled Martha, who was distracted by preparations for Jesus’ visit instead of spending time with Him.
“Like Martha, the only thing to be concerned about is our relationship with Jesus, no matter the circumstances,” he said. “We can ask him to be with us — God wants to fill us with grace, strength and joy.”
The thoughts of Father Rene Canales, pastor of the Parish Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lindenwold, drifted to the Christmas season and, more specifically, the recent feast of the Epiphany.
“Like the Magi meeting the newborn Savior, and returning to their home via a different route, let us change our paths after an encounter with Jesus,” and recognize his promises to us, as “Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
“No matter what happens in 2021, we must keep the faith,” he said.
Father Anthony Manuppella, pastor of Northfield’s Saint Gianna Beretta Molla Parish, called this “time of confinement and fear” for many, as an opportunity to “make reparation for sins, and pray that others return back to God.”
He is optimistic, though, that 2021 will see “Our Blessed Savior lift us out the darkness,” and he sees the vaccine as an already positive sign. “It’s a game changer,” he says; “It should give us a lot of hope.”
From Haddonfield’s Christ the King Parish, Father Jon Thomas, pastor, remarked that although it’s “impossible” to know what 2021 will have in store, one can be “certain that God will fill it with plentiful opportunities for heroism, professional success, personal growth, nobility, love and holiness.”
Last weekend in Atco, Father Chris Mann, pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish, shared with his parishioners his recent experience on a four-day walking pilgrimage from Great Meadows, N.J., to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Throughout the journey, there were pleasant times (good fellowship, good food) and difficult times (rain and mud, not-so-good food). Arriving at their destination, and witnessing the beauty and majesty of the shrine, all pilgrims knew the footsteps brought a great reward.
Such is now the opportunity, Father Mann said last Sunday, to “live (our own) pilgrimage” well.
In doing so, we will find the “destiny that awaits us all of us,” seeing God’s beauty, and gazing upon his face.
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