Sunday, March 22, 2020

Photo of the Day: St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, Leonia, NJ


I believe that at least some of my readers from Bergen County, NJ, grew up attending Masses in St. John the Evangelist. They in particular are likely to feel sad that an institution so much a part of their memories has temporarily closed, like others in the Archdiocese of Newark, because of the coronavirus. 

At just the moment when we need a source of consolation amid stress and tragedy, one of our chief lifelong sources of it is unavailable to us.

Decades before this, the Roman Catholic Church looked to other communication channels to spread the faith, such as radio and television. But the resort to live streaming is less a proactive than a defensive measure. It supplements the physical experience of the Mass, but does not replace it. I was grateful to participate this morning via St. John’s live-streaming, but longed for the real thing.

The creators of the Church instinctively grasped that, like love for another person, love of God is best transmitted tactilely—through the swelling of the organ, the lifting of voices toward the vaulted ceilings, the clasp of hands in the sign of peace, and the odor of incense. And, as the very name “Mass” indicates, the individual is anchored in a large, mass faith community.

In the end, a live streaming service is a poor but necessary substitute for the Mass. Although I understand and respect First Things editor R.R. Reno’s argument that canceling services is “utterly unnecessary,” incidents of exposure to the coronavirus that have occurred in other faiths confirm the need for caution. 

Even now, so many of us long for God as we long for each other. For now, we will have to find him inescapably where we always should have: in the deepest parts of our souls.

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