There is none that hasn’t felt the impact of COVID-19,be it as individuals, families, the economy, the governments, schools, the rich, the poor migrant workers rendered jobless & homeless-the list is endless. We have seen it all and we have felt it all. We are all in this together.

Slowly but surely, along with other places of worship, the universal Church felt this impact. Commencing with the Holy Water & Hymnals being withdrawn; receiving the Eucharist on our hand; in no time we had the actual closure of Churches/Chapels. There was an immediate sense of loss of a sacred part of our life.A miracle happened for us when Bishops streamlined morning Mass daily, joined later by other Parish Priests. In addition, spiritual inputs were relayed to us in the evenings, which people admit, increased their knowledge and faith.

Let us warmly congratulate our Priests all over the world for meticulously abiding by the government Rules & Regulations and yet ensuring that they meet our spiritual needs. Let us understood that living the Priesthood is not EASY. The Lord has called faulty instruments and worked miracles through them. In every celebration of the Mass, our Lord has taken the instrument of a priest and given us the beautiful miracle of changing bread and wine into His Body & Blood. In the confessional the Lord takes this simple instrument and works the beautiful miracle of forgiving our sins and sending us back in peace.. I’m sure, there’s no priest who looks at his Priesthood and says that these miracles are because of his capability. We know of those who have left the Priesthood-most often they were the intelligent & talented ones. But the ones who said ”Yes” and remained faithful are the ones serving us today, meeting our spiritual needs under difficult circumstances.

As we go through this pandemic, if anything is happening, it is the Miracle of Priesthood. God has chosen ordinary instruments to meet our spiritual needs. Let us keep this in mind, when we approach our Priests, that they are dealing with their own inadequacies trying to meet the standards they have set for themselves (rather than our criticisms).We need to nurture the Miracle of Priesthood with our daily PRAYERS. It is a Miracle that God can use someone simple, weak or imperfect to touch so many, many lives. A big THANK YOU to all the priests, specially to our very own, Fr.Andrew Pereira, our Parish Priest, for touching our lives.

J.Rodrigues