Could coronavirus and not going to Mass be a good thing?

[MockSock]

Since the outbreak of coronavirus and especially since we haven’t been able to attend Mass. I’ve been feeling more spiritual. More Catholic. I don’t know if it’s because I miss it or because when you can’t have something, you want it more. I do anyway.

So could the coronvirus and even the public Mass attendance restrictions be a good thing?

 

[aroosi]

I definitely think not having access to Holy Communion and other Sacraments make us realize that we take them for granted too often.

 

[Weserthy]

While it would ultimately be better if public masses weren’t cancelled, I do think there is some spiritual benefit to be had in abstaining from the Eucharist for some time as to better appreciate its benefits. I think it’s a given that many Catholics can sometimes take the Eucharist for granted these days since frequent reception is widely encouraged.

 

[Metis1]

At our parish, one can visit during mass times but must side far apart, there is no Eucharist, but Father/deacon does the readings and gives a short homily.

 

[MockSock]

Thanks that’s what I meant. I couldn’t find the right words.

 

[MockSock]

Same, but I don’t know the times. It’s not the normal times.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It is not a good thing that people can’t go to Mass, but it may cause some of them to value the sacraments more. “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”

God is always able to bring good things out of bad.

 

[Metis1]

I have to revise my post because I just learned after checking our website that there will only be private prayer allowed starting this weekend. The virus is really starting to hit our area (Detroit) hard.

Take care, and let each of us pray for each other.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea at the moment. I certainly don’t want coronavirus. What I’m worried about, is that people will be complacent about not going, and think that they no longer have to when all the stuff is over.

 

[Metis1]

And if it’s like the flu epidemic that killed millions worldwide in 1918-19, heaven forbid, most that did die did so in the fall and subsequent winter, not the spring and summer.

Please don’t shoot the messenger.

 

[Soubirous1]

it seems that God wants personal prayer from us at this time.

 

[Nik]

They say that the change in working to being remote and home based that we have seen during this crisis may stick. The same with studying, meetings and socialising - a lot of it staying on line.

So I do wonder if (some) people will see less of a need to go to Mass when they have gotten used to live streaming it?

 

[UpUpAndAway]

So could the coronvirus and even the public Mass attendance restrictions be a good thing?

Rather than it being a good thing, I would say it’s not necessarily a completely bad thing. Not only does it bring the value of the Mass and the sacraments front and center (or help us to realize that we may have lost sight of their being front and center), not having access to them might lead us to discover other aspects of our faith previously un- or underexplored.

Unless the infection rates nosedive in the next few days, there will be no public Mass where I live at least through Easter. I’m wondering what new devotion(s) I might discover and embrace during this time. ray:t3:

 

[iwillrisenowinfaith]

God is with us, working through us, and helping us as always.

My faith has been evolving somewhat also since the Masses were closed to the public. The best way I can describe it is that I feel like my actions at this time are closer to the concept of ‘pouring out’ for others than they ever have been. Even the smallest ones. For everyone, not just people in the Church or any other specific group. Everyone is in need of some grace and light right now.

 

[po18guy]

First, I am somewhat incredulous that so many insist on attending the mass. Of course we should love doing so, except… Having said that, more will be infected and more will succumb to this disease. No one passes it on intentionally, but like friendly fire in the military, even though it has good intentions, bad comes from it.

This is the world’s first opportunity to defeat the devil on a massive scale and it comes via - get this - denying ourselves.

Lent - a denial of self, a giving of self in union with Christ. Christ was alone in the desert and remaining in our homes gives us greater chance to reflect on this and spiritually bond with him.

Does no one remember the thriving Catholic community found in Korea 12 years after the last priest there had been murdered? That faith continued on, even lacking priest or sacrament. From Franciscan Media:

“Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for taking taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came to Korea in 1883.”

We will survive this, but we need to learn something new: obedience to the shepherds which our Lord has given us to shepherd us through these troubling times.

 

[PapyrusDouay]

This is the world’s first opportunity to defeat the devil on a massive scale and it comes via - get this - denying ourselves.

Lent - a denial of self, a giving of self in union with Christ. Christ was alone in the desert and remaining in our homes gives us greater chance to reflect on this and spiritually bond with him.

YES!! As I tried to allude to in a different post (Cancelled masses, COVID-19, and the Desert - #2 by PapyrusDouay), this is very much an spiritual practice in keeping with Lent and Christian Charity. It’s an extreme and dire situation, but it is also the kind of trial out of which new saints will come, and an opportunity for spiritual growth exists for all. Many saints, and even entire religious orders have come out of times like these in epidemics and plagues of past centuries.