Dear Saints,

Our last Walmart Mass (June 27) has had me reflecting a good deal on the OLMC pandemic experience.

In reflecting on the past year and change, the first thing I have to say about our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath is that it’s been extremely difficult. Many of us have lost loved ones over the past year and a half, and all of us have lost the stable structure and rhythm of life that we knew before the pandemic. The upending of a great many activities and relationships is a real suffering that we need to acknowledge and grieve. Without actively working our way through our losses, we’re likely to remain trapped in traumatic stress for some time to come.

What is remarkable, I have to say, is that God is providing for us even in this particular need. Not only do we have a newly formed team that is trained to walk alongside of people through life’s challenges, we also have a professional psychologist in our volunteer crew to offer pastoral counseling to anyone who might profit from it. Of course, you can continue to count on me for confession and counsel, and our team of spiritual mentors remains at the ready to assist you as well.

Even in the darkest days of the pandemic our OLMC family was able to be a light to the world. The many initiatives that we launched over the course of the past year demanded serious investment in the lives of a great many people, but no matter the ask the response was always the same: “Yes.” I will say, then, that the story of the pandemic for me is our ever-increasing “yes” to God: trusting and following Jesus, and living more and more totally for God and his purposes as we went.

This faithfulness – our yes to God to meet the demands of love – is the place from which we start our post-pandemic life. Many an adventure awaits OLMC, and I’m excited to share a bright future, a future fueled by prayer and love, with you.

I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ