The Catholic Weekly 16 August 2020

8 16, August, 2020 F rom the archbishop catholicweekly.com.au A God so close to us ... Remote participation in the Church is fine when we can’t be present, but nothing can substitute for being there The Multiplication of the Loaves, by Ambrosius Francken PHOTO:ALVESGASPAR/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY-SA 4.0 W here to from here? For some, this pandem- ic-enforced retreat has been an oppor- tunity to connect more deep- ly with family and God – to give time to conversation and prayer so often crowded out by our busyness. Many have maintained their connec- tion to Mass and parish by live-streaming; others, who can’t normally come to Mass, have enjoyed Mass coming to them at home. But when at last we can all return toMass, will many have lost the habit and be seen no more at church? Or will there be a resurgence of attendance, as happened after the pan- demic a century ago? Time will tell. Clearly some people miss the experience of communi- ty at Mass, their union with Christ’s mystical Body the Church; not being able to con- gregate physically has been isolating for them. Others miss the experience of commu- nion at Mass, their union with Christ’s sacramental Body the Eucharist; not being able to receive Himhas been a terri- ble loss to them. For all sorts of reasons – social and emo- tional, moral and spiritual – we miss congregating in our usual way. This is the ecclesial consciousness: that salvation is not just between God and me; it’s through and with oth- ers I am saved and God is me- diated; through community and communion. Yet so much of life is now ‘virtual’. We meet by Zoom, research by Google, social- ise by FaceBook, discuss on WhatsApp, learn frompod- casts, worship via YouTube. Not only does on-line keep the bug at bay, it saves on com- muting, allows many more interactions, and is more com- fortable than a pew! Do we really need to be at Mass in person? “Come to the water,” God says in our first reading today (Is 55:1-3), come be baptised. Come to the table, for the Bread that satisfies andWine beyond price. It’s through such physical proximity that spiritual blessings flow. This is the sacramental con- sciousness: that through phys- ical realities like oil and water, bread and wine, incense and vestments, ritual, music and architecture, bodily creatures like us are joined to spiritu- al realities like God. Blessings, like messages, can be deliv- ered even virtually; but sac- raments require physical or ‘moral’ presence. In our Gospel today (Mt 14:13-21) the crowd seeks Je- sus out. Just hearing reports about Him is not enough. They leave the comfort and security of their homes, pur- suing Him in the wilderness. They want to see and hear and touch Him. And they get more than they bargained for… On seeing the hungry crowd Jesus gives His disci- ples three simple commands. First, He says, “Give them something to eat yourselves”. Those words are for us. Aus- tralians respond generously to crises like bushfire and pan- demic; we should be equal- Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP