Thriving during lockdown

Thriving during the Covid19 Lockdown

The story of four MHM’s in Cardonald, Scotland

These last 18 months (from March 2020) have been a time of great trial for all of us. Some people have suffered greatly after catching the Covid virus, others have lost their jobs and experienced dire financial hardship. ‘Normal life’ has been disrupted, many businesses have had to close down, and, as usual, the poorest in society have suffered most.

Left to right, Standing: Fr Bernard Fox, Fr Bill Tollan, Fr Hugh O’Donnell Seated: Fr Gerard Hamill, Fr John Doran.

At the same time, however, the experience of ‘lockdown’ has had many positive consequences. We became more aware of our immediate surroundings, and of the world as God’s Creation; we heard the birds sing, we observed the variety of trees and flowers all around us, we appreciated the clear, blue skies – free of the noise and pollution from aeroplanes. Here in St Joseph’s the four of us missionaries sat down, in the first stages of the Pandemic to plan how best we could use this time when the usual groups and daily Massgoers could no longer come into our House. We decided to make an 8-day Ignatian Retreat, setting aside the mornings for silent prayer and reflection on our own. We agreed we would have a time of Eucharistic Adoration every Monday evening – praying silently for all our friends and family, and especially those going through difficult times. As we could no longer host our usual Meditation Group on Tuesday mornings the 4 of us meditated each Tuesday at 11am – joining in spirit 30+ people meditating at home. To link up with Laudato Si (On Care for our Common Home), Pope Francis’s wonderful encyclical on creation and our place in it, on Tuesday evenings we watched a number of DVDs on this subject - the Planets(Brian Cox), on the natural world (David Attenborough). We could no longer continue with the Faith Formation group at our ‘Wednesday Talks’, but we decided we would continue with a programme for ourselves. We used the big meeting room as our ‘theatre’, and made use of various DVD-series to stimulate thought and discussion. (The videos were projected on to the big screen.) And so each Wednesday evening Fr Bill offered us a stimulating DVD, beginning with Kenneth Clark’s ‘Civilisation’ (though made many years ago, it is quite brilliant.) With the help of prepared notes we had some good discussions after viewing the hour-long programmes. Later we used other DVD-series: A History of Christianity; the History of the Jews; a modern version of K.Clark called ‘Civilisations’; A History of America; Spanish Art; etc. On Friday nights we met again in our ‘theatre’ for a specially-chosen film, either from a DVD or Netflix. And so it was that, after enjoying fish-suppers from the local chippy on a Friday night, we settled down to view (while enjoying a ‘Magnum’ ice-cream) such films as The Two Popes, Green Book, Quo Vadis, Contagion,The Dig, Karol, Turks and Caicos, Florence Foster Jenkins, Worth. In the absence of our excellent cook, Paul Dunphy, Fr John Doran stepped-in and kept us well fed four

days a week throughout the pandemic. He had a recipe for making bread that came from the Roman legions when they were here and swore that it would keep us “marching” forward too! On Sundays one of us either said Mass at Nazareth House or it was streamed from our chapel. On Sunday evenings, Bella Vita, the local Italian restaurant offered us a ‘carry-out’ meal (usually soup and pasta), asking only that we pray that the business would survive the pandemic. (It’s now flourishing, thank God!) So, overall, the four of us here at St Joseph’s not only managed to retain our sanity but we grew closer together as a group. There were some challenges, however…. In December 2020 Fr Bernard Fox contracted Covid while conducting a funeral and had to shield in his room for three weeks. The after effects have still left him with some healthproblems but he remains in good spirits. Fr Hugh (better known as Shuggie) had to have several of his teeth removed. For months on end he spent most of his mornings in the chapel in prayer and reflection and we felt the benefit of his prayerful support. Fr Bill Tollan was hit by a severe case of cellulitis, with weeks and months of excruciating pain. Again, Fr John patiently brought meals to his room, the district nurses came to dress his wounds, and a good friend – a highlyqualified male nurse (a member of the Port Glasgow group which Fr Bill has accompanied to Lourdes for seven or eight years) - offered lots of practical advice and help. Thanks to Zoom some of us were able to follow a variety of spiritual events online. There was an excellent Holy Week retreat organised from Bonnevaux, Headquarters of the World Community for Christian Meditation, near Poitier, with Fr James Alison the main speaker. The lockdown imposed as a result of the pandemic encouraged many people to be become creative. Consequently, as we could not visit people or have them come into our house, we began reaching out by phone or social media and thanked God for such tools as WhatsApp, Facebook and Zoom. Looking back, these 18 months have been a richly ‘graced time’; in spite of the suffering and frustration at not being able to either receive our usual groups or go out on Mission Appeals, it’s been a time for deepening our spiritual lives and coming together as a group – and becoming more aware, as we listen to the bird song and look at the flowers and trees around us, of God’s wonderful creation of which we are a part.