Pandemic will not last, so use confinement positively

BAHAMAS 

Everyone can use this time of confinement positively. To deny this, Archbishop Patrick Pinder of Nassau said, is to undermine and undervalue potential and ourselves.

In his Easter message to the Church and people of the Bahamas, the Archbishop acknowledged that this Easter a heavy, unique cross is being carried—COVID-19. Yet, he assured, this time of trial will not last forever.

“The Passion and death of Christ is not the end of the story. His Passion leads to His glorification. With that in mind, let us embrace our cross wisely, faithfully and hopefully…. After these bleak days, there are much brighter days ahead,” he said. The full text of the Archbishop’s message was published in the archdiocesan monthly Bahama Catholic.

Archbishop Pinder said while being confined is not easy, history offers examples of those who used confinement very positively. He observed those who had confinement imposed upon them, sometimes unjustly, with discipline and vision, they used the time to fashion a better future for themselves and their nation. A prime example, the Archbishop cited, was South African icon Nelson Mandela.

“There are also those who freely chose confinement in order to attain spiritual discernment and insight and to grow closer to God. Doing so they have provided great benefits to our civilisation,” he said, referencing two “giants” of Church spiritual tradition, St Benedict and St Ignatius of Loyola.

Easter, Archbishop Pinder said is the “very foundation” of our faith and the annual celebration brings us back to that foundation. “It takes us back to how it all began. It is essential for us to return to this Feast each year to remember and to reaffirm what it is that we believe and why we believe it.”

We return, each Easter, to the very source of hope and strength within.

While faithful celebrate Easter “at a most unusual time”, he urged all to not be foolish or irresponsible but follow the Science, Medicine and Public Health “wisely”.