by Reader Lou Pizzuti, OP
Many Dioceses in the United States have celebrated the public celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and temporarily closed Adoration Chapels. This is done as a precautionary measure to avoid having parishioners exposed to the Corona Virus.
How do we, as Catholics, deal with this?
1. EWTN has a daily Mass celebration broadcast. Watch it.
2. Some Dioceses are following suit. Bishop Lucia of Syracuse will podcast a daily private mass on the diocesan website, and will upload the Sunday Mass to the diocesan Youtube Channel.
When you do watch a Mass on TV, you obviously cannot receive our Lord in the Eucharist.
You can, however, make a Act of Spiritual Communion.
3. You can pray the Divine Office, or, as it's known in some Eastern Catholic circles, The Divine Praises. The Western office can be found at iBreviary.com
4. If Adoration is not available, you can pray with icons. As St. Basil the Great teaches us, the honor paid the image passes to the prototype. If you don't have any icons, downloading one from the web will do. Just avoid anything from Monastery Icons.
5. You can pray the psalms, you can read more scripture, you can read the Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church, not for logical analysis, but as a conversation between you and the Holy Spirit.
Yes, this can be a difficult time for the Catholic, but, remember, it's Lent. We have to learn to sacrifice, and turn that sacrifice into spiritual growth.
