‘Stay at Home’ gives space for transformation in our heart

Outside, the sun is warming the earth, flowers are popping up, grass is greening, trees are displaying new growth as robins, quail, killdeers, doves and hummingbirds seemingly appear out of nowhere. Spring is bursting at the seams!

Inside, many of us are sequestered at home with a “holy longing” for a cure to the deadly Covid-19 that is stalking our nation. We wait for a vaccine–-a magic potion that will bring us back to the norm of just a few months ago.

Waiting stretches the limits of our faith, hope and love.

The usual gatherings of families in the parks, hikers, bikers, travelers, churches, weddings and funerals have been replaced by walkers keeping safe distances from each other. Wearing homemade masks under watchful eyes, we look for those who might carelessly invade our space.

What is my heart’s deepest prayer at this time? What is yours? What do I hope might be called forth in me, in the midst of this global pandemic?

When I scan myself for what lives in my heart, fear contracts my soul--fear for my family, my friends and neighbors--for the loss of life as I have known it, and fear for what the future might bring.

Surrendering to the felt sense of my own fear and vulnerabilities, I realize my fear is no different from anyone else. Everyone is fighting a hard battle. We are in this together.

What shifts within me, when I lean into the fear and allow myself to experience it is a felt sense of connectedness with everyone. There are no strangers. I may not know how this pandemic is affecting you, but I do know that it is affecting you–-no one is excluded.

Globally, countries are pooling their wisdom and resources as they unite in the battle against the disease. Are our swords being turned into ploughshares?

Let’s not deny reality. There is fear; there is isolation; there is panic--buying, as well as projection, anger and death.

The medical world is working hard for an antidote, while life sustaining services are brought to us by grocery workers, health care providers, garbage collectors and all those deemed essential workers. We are realizing our dependence on one another like never before.

Staying at home bears the burden of seemingly doing nothing, yet, we are told it is a necessary component in contributing to the health of others. How, then, can I use this time to contribute in meaningful ways when the evening news tears at my heart?

Mother Teresa prayed “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.”

May we use this time to allow reality to touch whatever needs to be transformed within us for the greater good. May prayerful compassionate hearts break open to the suffering of those around us and around the world--so long as we all shall live.