Many spiritual masters have written about what silence and solitude can do for the soul. With the onset of social distancing and self-isolation due to the coronavirus, we are being given a real opportunity if we are committed enough to benefit from it.
Every year, the Church gifts us Lent as a time for prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Little did we know that this Lent would be the Lent of all Lents; it turns out that not only have we given up chocolate and dialled down our coffee intake, but we’ve also given up visits with grandma and every single event that takes place outside of our homes.
At first glance this is terrible. But, as we’ve all collectively decided, staying home is the very least we can do to save lives and “flatten the curve.”
Unfortunately, it is indeed possible to be faced with suffering and not benefit from it at all. A vast majority of us will watch more Netflix and TV than during any other Lent. Some of us might give up on our Lenten resolutions altogether because we feel that we need comfort in these disorienting times. We scroll endlessly through social media only to read the same toilet paper jokes and see the same COVID-19 memes over and over. All because we simply don’t know what else to do with ourselves. We can’t be expected to pray all day long, can we?
Lent is presented to us each year as a time dedicated to purifying ourselves and detaching from worldly preoccupations and our own compulsions. If we’re being honest, the Lents of yesteryear probably look a little lame to us now. The temptation when faced with lots of anxiety and fear (as our current situation has provided in abundant supply) is to tap out. In fact, choosing not to tap out takes a colossal act of the will and lots of virtue.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read that human virtues are “firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good.”
The relentless pursuit of the virtues is a gift; alone we are not strong enough, but we can hope in God’s mercy. Fortitude, a cardinal virtue that “ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of good” and enables one to “conquer fear, even fear of death” is especially needed for our times.
Father Mark-Mary Maximilian Ames of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a religious community of brothers and priests based out of the Bronx, speaks of the importance of leading a balanced spiritual life especially in the midst of quarantine and social upheaval. He gives four concrete tips on how to not only survive, but thrive, in isolation and monotony.
The first suggestion is perhaps the most obvious one: to pray. Father Mark Mary highly recommends the Divine Mercy chaplet as a means of calling down God’s tender mercy for all of those affected by the virus. The friars have many videos on YouTube that welcome communal prayer if focusing on prayer doesn’t come easily.
Father Mark-Mary’s second suggestion is to read something spiritual. His recommendation was to start with the Catechism of the Catholic Church section on prayer. It’s simple and not too ambitious yet rich enough to give us lots of food for thought.
Next, he suggests doing something for others. He calls it a daily charity hour, but it can be something simple like picking up the phone to call an elderly neighbour or friend, writing a letter, or even simply saying a prayer specifically for someone who is suffering because of fear or isolation. It is easy to get locked into our own heads while we are already shut up in our homes. It is a beautiful act of charity to remember those who are suffering more than we are and it will also serve to boost our own spirits by serving someone else in such a small way.
The last suggestion Father Mark-Mary makes is scheduling screen time. He recommends having specific times of the day dedicated to screen time. This way, consuming media doesn’t slowly seep into other parts of your day to weaken your resolve and render you unproductive and lax in your prayer life and your duty of the moment. Not only does excessive screen time rob from your energy reserves and from your creativity, but it makes silence and prayer more unpalatable; the usual battle for prayer will become intensified.
We have been deprived of many comforts, but we are still not on level-footing with our brothers and sisters throughout the world who do without basic human rights, clean water, adequate/regular food supply and (relatively) fair governance.
May this be an opportunity for all of us to use our open time in such a way that communicates our gratitude to God for the richness of our lives. May the absence of so many luxuries (religious gatherings especially) make us all the more committed to celebrating God’s generosity. Even when he takes from us for a time, with God we always gain more than we lose.
