Bairbre Cahill
I should actually be on a plane now, rather than sitting at my desk writing. If it were not for Covid-19 I would be on my way back from Kentucky, having attended the wedding of my God-daughter. As it was, we watched the wedding streamed live on Facebook so that friends around America and family here in Ireland could be in some way involved. The wedding was much smaller than originally envisaged – 25 rather than 150 but it was beautiful and wonderful and both the bride and groom glowed with delight.
Over the past number of weeks, I have spent a lot of time talking to Jennie and to my brother in Chicago. It looked at one stage as if the wedding was simply not going to go ahead. The prospect of Covid-19 created serious levels of stress for all involved. For many months now we have known that family here would not be able to travel and that has created a real loneliness. It has not been an easy road for my niece or those around her. At a distance here in Ireland there was not much I could do other than listen – and pray!
Over these coming weeks many of us are going to experience that deep loneliness and sense of loss because we cannot gather with the people we love as freely and exuberantly as we would like to do. In our own family we are living for the days when our girls come home. Our Christmas celebrations will simply be the six of us but I thank God we will have that.
So what of those who decide not to travel back to Ireland or who we cannot visit? Thank God we have phones and the technology to see each other online. Have there ever been so many online chats, family games nights and quizzes? It is lovely but it is not the same as putting your arms around someone, giving them a great big hug and then settling down together on the sofa for a chat.
I would suggest that something we can do for those we miss is to pray for them. What I have in mind is a way of praying which I enjoyed during the summer when I was doing the Laudato Si’ training. It is rooted in a confidence that we are all connected despite distance. Think of the person you want to pray for, see them clearly in your mind’s eye, how they smile, the way they move, how they look at you. Now ask the Holy Spirit to bring your love to them. Imagine that love streaming out from you and surrounding them. What is it that you want for this person? Love, peace, joy, courage, wisdom? These are gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Again imagine them flowing from you and enfolding this person you love. Take time, stay with the image of this person – friend, child, grandchild, sibling, parent – enwrapped in your love.
This is not the stuff of fantasy or mumbo jumbo. This is about taking the Holy Spirit seriously. If we believe that God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being then the Holy Spirit is the medium of that radical connectedness. It is in and through the Holy Spirit that we know ourselves to be one body, united, unbroken. So let us rely on the Holy Spirit to be the conduit of our love to those we miss this Christmas.
On another note, Charles de Foucauld reminded us that “Jesus came to Nazareth, the place of the hidden life, of ordinary life, of family life, of prayer, work, obscurity, silent virtues, practiced with no witnesses other than God, his friends and neighbours. Nazareth, the place where most people lead their lives”. Let us remember this Christmas that our homes, our families, in their newly found simplicity and quietness are our Nazareth. Right here is our place of holiness, our encounter with God. Let us be alive to His presence among us.