We begin this week with certain provinces starting to carefully remove some of the restrictions placed many weeks ago on the population and on businesses.
We also had a warm weekend …. and so there can be an overwhelming temptation to start to behave as if everything was back to the way it was. This is no surprise since behaviours once learned and practiced can take a lot of effort to change.
But it goes almost without saying that as much as we want to start (carefully) to do the things we have been missing, this is a time of being prudent and careful.
So, how can we resist that urge to return to past behaviours?
I suspect one way is to have given some thought as to how we want to start to reintroduce ourselves to a broader set of activities. This of course will vary based on our age, our living arrangements, our proximity to family, and many other factors.
For example … it may well be June or July before our churches here in the GTA start to open up for restricted activities. When they do, they will need to make sure that parishioners are protected. How that will happen will be known sometime later.
However, until that time, there are many other ways we can nourish our spiritual lives as spring moves towards summer.
For example, a warm dry day becomes an opportunity to walk close to nature. There will be places where we can maintain appropriate social distancing and yet still be aware of the bursting forth into life of God’s creation. Indeed, “forest bathing” walks are a powerful form of prayer and nourish our spirits at a very deep level. Nature has a profound ability to connect with our soul.
It may be difficult for us to get to a place where we can be close to nature … but we can still venture outside and perhaps turn our walk into a rosary-walk … where we can pray for the people in the houses we pass, and the people we walk past as we move along the sidewalks in our neighbourhood.
We may also find that there is an open space to be able to just sit in silence and be aware of the presence of God. To practise what is called the Sacrament of the Present Moment. Perhaps that is in our backyard. Or maybe a little parkette down the street.
Each of these activities, when appropriate, can become a way of nourishing our spirit while being with nature.
By the same token, we can take this time to discuss with our family the hows and when’s of our getting together again. So that when we do, we will be continuing to keep ourselves safe while reintroducing activities into our day.
Being purposeful and prudent is a much healthier way of re-entering our communal lifestyle. Much better, and much safer, than succumbing to the temptation to throwing caution to the wind and temporarily escape our quarantine.
It’s certainly worth a thought.