"It is the life in the Spirit that can redeem, value and demonstrate how our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people – often forgotten people – who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines nor on the grand catwalks of the latest show, but who without any doubt are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time: doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, caregivers, providers of transport, law and order forces, volunteers, priests, religious men and women and so very many others who have understood that no one reaches salvation by themselves."

- Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi address, March 27, 2020

God of our longing, we "are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time," and yet, what we feel is heavy:

Heavy with the suffering with which we are surrounded.

Heavy with the weight of responsibility that we hold.

Heavy with the sense that while we work to protect those we are charged with healing we put at risk those whom we love the most.

God of our longing, we "are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time," and yet, what we feel is exhausted:

Exhausted by the physical pain of our bodies at work.

Exhausted by our pleas for protection.

Exhausted by the ignorance of so many as they fail to hear our plea.

God of our longing, we "are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time," and yet, what we feel is salvation:

Saved by an offering of bread and wine from friends and neighbors, sitting on our doorstep at the end of a long day.

Saved by a glance of gratitude from a patient gasping for breath as they are hooked up to the oxygen they require for survival.

Saved by the community of coworkers beside, behind, below and above, who are working together to ensure we make it through.

God of our longing, we "are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time," and yet, what we feel is You:

Walking with us.

Breathing life into our tired hands and hearts.

Demonstrating daily how we all might be brought to redemption in the weaving together of our lives.