| The picture shows an amazing make-over of a statue of Jesus we have on the trail at the Catholic Conference Center. I call him the Matthew 25 statue as he points to the right, where all the good and faithful servants reside. The makeover was done by a talented and dedicated volunteer of the center. Thank you John Colton! Though the remake beautifies the trails, we can also look at the statue symbolically. The ‘before’ picture may represent our spiritual life before the pandemic – a little neglected and not too pleasing to gaze upon. The ‘after’ statue gives us an idea of the transformation that can take place if we accept this challenging time as an invitation to do a little makeover of our own spiritual life. By now, we’re figuring out that its going to be a long journey back to ‘normal’. The resurgence of COVID cases has dimmed the possibility that the Fall will be marked by the perennial return of eager young faces marching off to school and huge crowds gathering for college football games. We’re in an in-between time, a time of transition. But God makes a space in all in-between times to allow for spiritual growth. Rather than idly wait for everything to settle, and then emerge from our bunker six months later – the same as before – this is a time when we can look at ways to transform our own spiritual life. The Israelites went from slavery to freedom. A fourteen day desert journey took them forty years. Judging from all their grumbling, they needed every minute of that arduous journey to rid their desire to return to the ‘normal’ they knew, which was slavery to Pharaoh and his Egyptian overlords. Once purged of these desires, they ultimately crossed the Jordan into the promised land and emerged as a new people. Sculpted by the desert sands and uniquely bound together by the commandments of God, the experience transformed them into the chosen people of God. This pandemic is our desert journey. Yet even in the midst of the emotional, spiritual and physical devastation, there are signs that God’s mighty and mysterious hand is working miracles beneath the surface. People are spending more time at home with their family. People are shopping less and praying more. People are not spending endless hours and gallons of gas commuting to and from work. There is more time to relax, enjoy our surroundings, and ponder the deeper questions of life. All of this is like taking a wire brush to chipped and flaking paint of our existing spiritual life, and preparing the surface for an amazing transformation. I encourage you to take look beneath some of the confusion, frustration and suffering that you’ve experienced these last four months. See the hand of God guiding you to form deeper relationships, giving you more time to pray and reflect, and encouraging you to trust more in God’s providence. May this time of transition be a time of transformation for you. Scott D. Gilfillan, Deacon Director, Catholic Conference Center |