A Pastoral Message for Advent, 2020
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In the month of December, we all change our perspectives, usually; we anticipate many good things, many blessings. Our children look forward to the time of holidays. Our merchants look forward to a financially successful conclusion to the year. Families think more and more about Christmas with a kind of happy excitement. Institutions like schools and government look forward to a rest from all the routines. Christian churches look forward to the spiritual benefits for all as they reconsider the Word made Flesh among us. I hope this year has much of this for us, especially with regard to our spirituality, our attendance at Eucharist, and our growth in virtue.
But this year is very different also. All of humanity experiences anguish and pain over the Covid-19 Pandemic. In Saipan, Rota, and Tinian, we have been blessed by an absence of active cases for many weeks. However, most of us are aware that nations and peoples are now afflicted terribly by this disease. Some of us have lost important relatives and friends abroad or on the mainland, and we have not been able to attend their funerals and to offer in-person support to the families. We are aware that the economy has fallen here, especially since so much of it depends on tourism. Some of us, thankfully, have become more sensitive to the suffering around us, particularly that of dis-employed workers, migrants who cannot move home; weeks and months of having to wear masks and wash our hands so frequently has helped us to raise our social sensitivity about the value of life beyond ourselves and our families to include a wider community. There are other benefits also.
Thankfully, our churches have been able to open with restrictions; there has not been a lot of resistance to them and compliance has been good. That relieves me quite a lot because, as your servant-leader, your Bishop, I would not have to become a kind of enforcer for the government safety plans or a voice which gets rejected. I am grateful to all who have carefully, lovingly, and expertly helped all of us to comply with the requirements set down for the churches. Pastors, workers, and all faithful people deserve thanks.
So, our Advent and Christmas Seasons this year will be filled with anxiety, but we are also stretching to a higher level of kindness, love, and wisdom. This is perfect spiritual preparation for these Seasons, and now is a time when we can strengthen our virtues in the time of Covid-19.
We have two models presented in the Sundays of Advent who can help us: John the Baptist and Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The Baptist, a deeply religious man who perceived his mission well learned that God had other plans when Jesus presented himself for Baptism; later, many of John’s own disciples decided to follow Jesus, and eventually the Baptist gave his life as a result of human jealousy, lust, and excess. He planned little of this, but his mantra, “He must increase, I must decrease” remains a signal attitude for all who must find God in radically changed circumstances. He did this completely, so fully that Jesus said of John, “… of all the men born of women, there is none greater than John.” We observe John closely early in Advent, and can touch our own uncertainty, become flexible, and admire the work of God in changed circumstances.
Our Mother Mary had an even greater challenge to flexibility. She learned of her extraordinary pregnancy, observed much in her heart, and found a deep source in her community’s hope for God’s promises. Thus, she became the Mother of the Redemption, something we see clearly at the end of the Advent Season and celebrate through Christmastide. Later her flexibility was touched so deeply, as if by a sword through the heart, by becoming a refugee in Egypt and by the Passion of Her Son, and our tradition holds that she was the first witness to His Resurrection, a belief which has changed the entire course of human history. From Mary we learn to trust the Mission of God which we do not fully control or grasp, but the faithful relationship allows us to accept so many twists and changes, some of them painful indeed, in the loving plan of God.
This Advent requires of us some important changes from Advents of the past. First, we have to observe all safety restrictions from the Covid-19 virus. Masks, sanitization, hand-washing, and the social distancing, temperatures, record-keeping have to be observed. This is for the safety of all who enter the houses of worship. I know that the vast majority of us will do this, and I am already grateful for your efforts. I hope more of our people can serve to make the congregations safe and ready for prayer by their attendance to simple ministries of greeting, recording temperatures, reminding about masks and social distance, and a faithful good cheer about it all.
Second, I personally regret that our practice of bringing the images of the child Jesus to homes this year cannot be undertaken for the sake of safety, but I urge all to be flexible and full of faith. After all, the Nino has visited and made His home with us all already; He has visited our hearts often, and we can recall the blessings of the Son of God, the Word Made Flesh, by good moments of personal and family prayer, and by devoted attendance at Sunday Masses. May I even suggest that the festive aspects of the traditional Nino visitation might even distract from the real meaning of Immanuel, God-is-with-us; it is easy for festivity to gain its own energy so as to make the relationships being celebrated less important. And I know most persons choose to make an offering for the Church at the time of the Nino visitation; without a festive visitation from the Nino, I humbly suggest you make your offering when you visit Nino during the Sundays of Advent and Christmas. I have asked our Diocesan Liturgical Commission to prepare materials for families to offer suitable prayers, and I am certain that your flexibility and attention to the spiritual dimensions of the infant Jesus will enrich your lives. Let us not focus on what we are missing; rather, let us search and find how we can give to others.
Third, we all know from our Catholic upbringing that there is no better prayer than the Eucharist; moreover, the Church wants us and insists that we be present for Masses on Sundays and designated other Feasts. Despite the inconveniences of safety in our church buildings, I can guarantee that all who participate in the Eucharist will receive food for their lives, support of friends, and a boost in faith. Let us be fully grateful that we can celebrate the Eucharist within our local guidelines for safety; many cannot in other communities. Let us be faithful to the true evangelical purpose of the Gospel and the Mass so that we are motivated to be sensitive to the hungry, the poor, the sick, the despised, and so many other persons suffering in our families and communities and this world. Let us desire to praise the mission of God-in-Christ, given to our Church in the Power of the Spirit, so that “… peace on Earth, good will toward humanity…” gets deeply identified in our parishes and homes. Thus, I urge and pray that all of us celebrate the Sundays of Advent with tenderness and compassion, with hope and courage, with gratitude and praise.
These weeks and months are extraordinary times of human suffering and concern, and I know most of us are dealing with the effects of the pandemic in multiple ways. Surely, there are more weeks and months ahead until vaccines and other remedies take global effect. Nonetheless, we are God’s Faithful People in the midst of this, and it is clear to me that God wants his mission and works to grow, despite our present suffering. His Word is still alive, perhaps moreso than ever — I pray we all listen well to his message of love. His call to share the Mission of Christ never diminishes, but it can get distracted — I pray our care, kindness, awareness of need, and common-sensical good will can be a true witness within our own parishes and for others. His companionship in the Sacrament of the Church is real — I pray for all of us to make it ever more real by a big “Amen!” to the coming of the Lord Jesus with his message of Peace and his demand of Love. May all of us stay sensitive to our personal and community suffering this Advent, but receive and celebrate the blessings of virtuous holiness in our midst, staying flexible and with our hearts fixed on God’s will and uncompromised love for us, revealed in the arrival of the Logos, the Christ, Immanuel, Jesus.
Sincerely in Christ,
/s/ Most Rev. Ryan P. Jimenez, D.D.
Bishop of Chalan Kanoa
