Deacon David Westgarth has written a helpful reflection on the theme of Holy Week and Easter during lockdown. Here it is below:
Lockdown – Opportunity for finding God
Well, Easter has arrived after a very different lent. For most Lent has been a time of apprehension, anxiety and in some cases fear, as we entered a phase of lockdown during the virus pandemic. A situation we may find unwelcome but necessary to keep people safe, slow the spread of the virus and ultimately save lives.
In a short space of time our world has become a very different place.
The same was true for the followers of Jesus, their world also became a different place in a short period of time.
Just last Sunday Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, hailed as a King, yet within a week he was dead, His physical presence was taken away from his disciples, they were unable to visit him, see him – they were lost, confused felt abandoned in their time of need, until the first Easter when he reappeared after his resurrection from the dead.
At this time, it is the same for us, we have the same feelings, our churches are locked, we are unable to “pay a visit”, Mass is said in private, we could feel abandoned. However, this gives us the opportunity to understand who God is and what he means to us. To develop our prayer life in the privacy of our own homes, just God and us.
This lockdown is temporary but the presence of God in our lives is permanent, established by the events of that first Easter, and this time is an opportunity to find other ways of recognising and nurturing that presence and turning to God in prayer, understanding that at this time, locked in our homes we are not alone.
Lockdown is a time for us to appreciate what is important to us and to do so in the knowledge that God is always with us.