Archbishop: Don't let fear of covid19 consume your heart

Archbishop Jason Gordon has called on Catholics to contemplate what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for them in the time of covid19.

In his Easter Sunday message, Gordon said that Easter Sunday marked the transition from the desert travelled during Lent to the Upper Room, where the Last Supper was held and the disciples remained after the crucifixion of Christ. He said it was in this space that the disciples would have understood what the resurrection meant, where they would have celebrated their first Eucharist, shared faith, remembered and put the fragments of pieces back together.

He said as in the gospel of John, it is early in the morning on the first day of the week and it is dark. He said he believed that the darkness of covid19 which has covered the world is important, because it has put people in the same place the disciples were in, in the Upper Room before resurrection. He said people have been huddled away in their own upper rooms with fear, anxiety, hopelessness, despair and negativity, the same dark emotions the disciples would have been experiencing.

Gordon asked Catholics to reflect on the negative emotions they have been carrying.

“The fear of getting covid19, the fear of dying, the fear of what will happen to your beloved and loved ones, the fear of the nation. Think of the fear we have been carrying and remember that God’s perfect love casts out all fear. To live as people of the resurrection is to live with love and not with fear. Open your heart and let that resurrection light in to that darkness inside of us, because it is still dark inside of us in these early days of covid19 where we really do not understand where we are going and what God will do with us. God has called us to live specially and do special things in this time and I’m inviting you to journey with me and stay in this upper room until we are ready to move from it and we understand what God wants with us.”

Gordon said once people let the light of the risen Christ into their hearts, the fear and disbelief would leave and hope would come back to their hearts.

“It is as if we believe that the virus is more powerful than Jesus Christ, no, Jesus Christ is more powerful than the virus, more powerful than everything. Our hope is in Jesus Christ, even if things get worse, we hope in him, because we know that God does not makes mistakes, we know God is in this and he is inviting us to something. So today, let us be resurrection people. It took the disciples 40 long days to really understand what the resurrection meant, and it will take us a long time to understand too.”

The service, streamed live from the Living Water Community Chapel, was conducted with less than five people. Gordon also prayed for the health workers and the other essential workers keeping the country running at this time.