Date: 
Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 11:03am

Once again just as you get a grip on things the goal posts are shifted...but honestly after seeing crowds of people out over the weekend this clamp down was inevitable. Life did just get simpler in a way: church is off and out of bounds! But that's only the building of course - church is very much still on but the question is how to turn the fellowship into a physical reality whilst we are separated from one another. This experience may highlight something of what life was like for the Christians in the earliest centuries. The danger isn't physical (indeed it often wasn't for them either) it's the practical obstacles of how and where to meet. At least we have technological possibilities to pursue. Prayer is also free and can be done anytime anywhere. Strange days to be a priest with no people, no altar and no Sacraments - but other aspects of the priest's role now emerge as shepherding in other ways become more vital. Spiritual support which cannot rely on the norms of church services but which must rise out of personal prayer life and devotion and draw on the wider treasures of the Tradition. I am so glad for all the time I have spent studying the Early Church Fathers - the mark of the Spirit in their lives will encourage, support and feed not just me but others too. That's not to say I won't venture beyond the earlier years of course but I have a start. What a joy to belong to the Communion of saints past and present!