Lex Cordis Caritas - The law of the heart is Love

July 1 was the feast day of St. Junípero Serra, a Franciscan missionary priest from Majorca, Spain, who came to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the New World in 1750. He established nine of the California missions, baptized over 6,000 native peoples, and is recognized as a builder of the State of California. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1988, calling him “an exemplary model of the selfless evangelizer.” Pope Francis canonized him as a saint during his visit to the United States in 2015. Unfortunately, some radical anarchists who are ignorant of history have destroyed statues of St. Junípero Serra. After a statue of St. Junípero Serra was torn down in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on June 19 by a crowd of about 100 people, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the Archbishop of San Francisco, was joined by several dozen Catholics in prayer and acts of spiritual reparation.

I have been asked if we will discontinue the video streaming of our Masses now that people can come to church, even if we are not yet able to fill our churches to capacity. While I do want people to return to physically attending Mass in person, I do not want to get away from livestreaming. That might seem contradictory to what I just said about the importance of being together in person, so let me explain why.

While I have cause for hope that good things may come from this difficult time, I know that you share my concern that we must return to the proper liturgical life of the church and regular celebration of the sacraments and faith life of our parishes. With this in mind, we have begun thinking and planning for how our parishes will re-open to provide access to the sacraments and public liturgies. In this regard, I am pleased to tell you that I have given permission for the distribution of holy Communion at designated times and with proper safety precautions, using the guidelines for the provision of the sacraments during the coronavirus pandemic developed by the Thomistic Institute in Washington, D.C.

While all of us fear death to some extent, it should come as no surprise that death is especially frightening to those who do not believe in God. After all, if there is no life after death, the prospect of collapsing into nothingness is rightfully terrifying. So instead of thinking about what happens after death, such people prefer to replace such thoughts with happy memories. Thus, “celebrations of life” and “memorial gardens” look to the past, while people of faith look to the future with confident hope of a better life to come.

We are living in a time of great anxiety and uncertainty as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic. Health care experts and government officials are indicating what the proper responses should be in terms of the natural means of confronting this crisis. This response in the realm of science and medicine is critically important, but it is not the only response needed. We as people of faith must also consider the supernatural measures that are needed to respond properly to this health care emergency. Fortunately, we have two thousand years of history that provide stellar examples of how Christians respond in times of sickness and disease.