May 2, 2020 – Finding Home

 In Pastor's Notes-Fr. Brendan

So much of our lives have changed in the last six weeks of the Shelter-in-Place order and the global fight against the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. It is hard to find a new normal in the midst of this much time at home. My own routines have been disrupted and I find myself desperate for a new routine. I need to reflect more on what has happening to us.

I read recently this in a Correspondent article by Lynn Berger, “Home is more important than ever, the famous furniture store told me in its ad. It might be more accurate to say that ‘home’ has taken on a new role. In addition to being a refuge, a safe harbor, it’s become a tool, a ‘weapon’ in the “war” being waged on the pandemic. It’s accrued a new meaning; one that has little to do with intimacy and the comforts of “home” and leaves many of us feeling a little displaced instead.

For the time being, home is no longer a personal matter, no longer a place of privacy, or at least not primarily. Our homes have been shifted back into the public arena, have become a matter of public interest. We’re staying inside, so that outside can become safe again, waiting it out until the day we can truly return, the day we can really come home.”

That hit me so hard. Home has shifted temporarily to a new reality and we need to adjust to this new reality. Home is now a place of work, play, exercise, office, a public place where everything is happening now. So what are we to do? I found myself setting some new boundaries for my time, new boundaries for work, new boundaries for zoom calls, new boundaries for tv and allotting specific time for exercise/walk outside, specific time for prayer and God, specific time for family, specific time for reading, specific time for rest and specific time for nothing at all! I have found the most important of all of these was time for God.

I had found my day was filling up, jammed packed with zoom meetings and trying to keep up with so many emails and meetings. Then I would have to squeeze in time for prayer and exercise. It was not getting better as days went by but worse. So, I had to listen to my own advice and not keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result (the ultimate definition of insanity). I decided to reverse the process—I set my schedule for a new time for prayer, new time for rest, and new time for exercise and then allowed all the other things to fill the time that was left. This allowed me to be more peaceful and restful throughout the day.

In all of this I had to remember, my home was still my home. It may have been repurposed for the good of society and the matter of public interest, but I could still find space for myself and God. I hope you can do the same.

Fr. Brendan McGuire

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