Dear friends,
 
At this time of my life, I tend to think that I’ve experienced just about everything. But the whole developing series of events around the Coronavirus has put the lie to that. Governor Inslee’s proclamation seriously restricting public gatherings is a first, and it points to the seriousness of what we are experiencing as a society. The prohibition regarding public gatherings obviously applies to us and to our celebrations of Mass. But I hope we will also be able to see it as a call to prayer – prayer for everyone who has been adversely affected by the virus, especially, of course, those who have lost life and their loved ones who are mourning them; but also a call to prayer for all who are ill because of the virus, and a call to prayer, too, for everyone in the medical profession, doctors and nurses, who are caring for the sick, and for those in the scientific community whose fields are especially important at this time.
 
And while we will not be able to come together to celebrate the Eucharist for a time, I hope this very deprivation will deepen our hunger for God, for Jesus, and strengthen our bonds of love for each other in the community of faith. The Gospel reading for this Sunday is from the fourth chapter of St. John’s Gospel. It tells the familiar and beautiful story of the encounter of Jesus with the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well. The woman came to draw water, but in her conversation with Jesus, he revealed himself to her as the living water, the one who satisfies the deepest longings and thirsts of the human heart. My prayer is that our being deprived of the Eucharist for a time will deepen our thirst for Christ, the living water, the Bread of Life. That would turn this dark and difficult moment into a real grace.
 
My friends, we have much to pray for, don’t we? Please be assured that you are very much in my prayers during these difficult and challenging days.
 
Father Ryan