On this Good Friday, the world is in a very different place. We are in the midst of a terrible crisis that cannot be ignored even for a major holiday. The future is not entirely certain but it is certain that the present is greatly influenced by a single fact of the Covid -19 Pandemic. How much has this affected those who may still read this blog.
But no matter what the current situation of the readers of this little blog we all know that many others have been affected. I am certainly one of those who has been affected. Everyone I talk to has been affected. It is in this context that we face this holiday. I tried to think a bit about it out loud on Facebook today.
I believe that there will be a great deal of time to think about this Good Friday if I continue to exist in time. There is not much chance that it will blend in. The connection of this trauma to the trauma of Christ seems real enough.
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I think that I am operating in the overly casual and isolated style of a lot of people during this time. I hope that I am relating properly to the whole experience and that the future will show that some of the Paschal mystery has had some effect on me.
It has been a challenge to process all the things on my mind this year. It is also typical of my posts that I try to take in a lot more than one topic. Here is one of them. The blog itself.
This is Good Friday. It is part of the Easter Triduum. That is the Holiest part of the traditional Christian calendar. It is not the only form of ritual, gathering and community that we will miss during these days of quarantine. Until recently, I have been away from this blog for a while. But the blog is not about sitting at home alone. I was created in large part by sitting home alone but it is not about that. Today I will not make the way of the cross I will not go to the drive through memorial service for Dr. Ray Authement who has died. He was the President who dressed me in the symbolic regalia when I was honored as Outstanding Graduate in the USL 1989 Commencement Exercises.
I am trying to honor the Death memorial of Jesus Christ in my own way but it is not what I wish it was as far as keeping Good Friday goes. My cousin Bill Massey is now a priest and Saint Anne’s church and on his website for that church he has many video links but he also has this religious service which he led posted on SoundCloud. It is the best use of my day perhaps to point to other observations of the occasion. Last year as I presented a lecture at the Louisiana Historical Association annual meeting with two others on a panel I spoke of a year of Global crisis in 1930 and I used the writing s of a priest from Mamou as one of my sources. That has been on my mind throughout this crisis. Good Friday makes it more real.
The Catholic celebrations which are so much a part of my heritage. Have passed more into the lives of others in my family and less into my own life. But this year I feel akin to all those who feel a bit outside the center of things and connected as well.
I am still trying to find my way through all of the suffering and death surrounding me. I am blessed that it has not yet affected me more than it has. before it is over I may feel more connected to the suffering and death of this day’s tradition. But since I left this blog my world has narrowed in many ways and I am mostly concerned with small matters around me. However any of you are dealing with this I truly wish you well.
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