The Most Shocking Reality That We Face This Year During Easter Week in Our C-Virus Mess

Happy Easter!

As we work our way through Easter Week, a shocking reality emerged when I looked back on our post last year during Easter Week. Let's take look back now. We'll see that hardly anything has really changed. Even I was surprised at this. Somehow I just assumed things were a lot better than they really are. Not that they're not at least somewhat improved. But, overall, we're still stuck in an ongoing, intransigent C-Virus Mess.

As it did last year, Easter provides us with a supernatural antidote to this Mess. For this we an be grateful. Of course, our fundamental gratitude remains focused on the salvation give us by Our Lord in His Passion and Death. And our joy finds a solid foundation in His Resurrection. Nothing can change what He accomplished for us. No joy can ever exceed the recognition and full appreciation of His gift of our salvation.

With that keeping me a bit more uplifted than I might otherwise be, I'm at work, doing my best, simultaneously "bathing' in our glorious Easter Week. It helps keep me steady even in the realization that our C-Virus Mess continues to drag along. Here's what we posted last year:   

I'm doing my best to keep the Resurrection front and center in my daily spiritual exercises, even throughout the workday. Despite the massive impact of this Coronavirus, we can all do this.

Of course, even in more normal times, it's not always been easy to keep the Resurrection front and center in my heart and mind, especially when I'm busy at work. But I try. We can all try.

If you, like me, are working more or less normally, then this week's experience will more closely mirror a normal Easter Week. But added to the usual busy-ness of the workday, you may be dealing with additional distractions:

Each day includes thoughts of family and friends who remain "distanced" - even if they live close by. I want to stay in touch. That means taking breaks to contact them in one way or another. FaceTime, always a special treat, has been a godsend during this time of separation. We even used Zoom once to have a kind of virtual "family gathering." We've occasionally used Zoom for work purposes too.

Meanwhile, the workload hasn't lightened up much. When things occasionally do get slower, it does afford some downtime for making contact. But you still have to keep your discipline or the day flies by and - lo and behold - you're behind the eight ball scrambling to catch up with work tasks.

As always, one thing leads to another: If you don't manage your time and stay on top of things, you'll also find that the awesome glory of the Resurrection may slip out of sight, out of mind. Don't let it happen.

If, on the other hand, you're out of a job, or been furloughed because of the Coronavirus, you perhaps may be facing some special challenges during this Easter Week. Being out of a job is never easy. And with our current economic slowdown - for some industries, a shutdown - prospects for employment may be slim. I know if I were facing this situation right now I'd find it daunting. It can weigh you down, in some cases cause you to feel depressed.

Some things to keep in mind:

First, you're not alone - if that helps. Unemployment numbers have surged far beyond those during the last financial crisis in 2008. In fact, they may turn out to be worse than numbers seen in the Great Depression. So it shouldn't surprise you if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed. When I and other members of my family have faced the financial and emotional effects of unemployment in my life, we've always found support amongst each other. Besides emotional support, financial support may be available.

You should never feel shy about expressing your concerns and/or distress to your family (assuming you have reasonably good relationships with family members) under any circumstances. But our current circumstances are, by any measure extreme - the most extreme any of us has faced in our lifetimes.

Nothing has substantially changed now a year later. But what really shocked me wasn't the impact on work. I didn't really expect things to be back to normal a year later. But, somehow, I did think we would still be thinking of family and friends who remain "distanced" - even if they live close by.

Now, I realize many of us have started going out again, meeting at restaurants, even going to each others' homes. But my experience has been that even with some increased contact, it's not the same as it was in Life-Before-Pandemic. I'm just grateful I have full employment to keep me occupied most of the time. My mind has less time to dwell on all this.

But, again, despite the disjointed lives we continue to live, it's a great relief and joy to simply say... 

Happy Easter!