FAITHFUL FOOD
What Hope Smells Like By Kim Long
Y
ears ago a young priest gave a parish mission for us, and in an effort to reassure us that our faith would see us through, he reminded us that Moses led the people through the sea and they reached the opposite dry shod bank. I recalled that talk at the beginning of the quarantine which felt like exile. In the book of Exodus, God says He will take us out, rescue us, redeem us and shall bring us out of Egypt. In the gospels Jesus says He is with us always. In our lives we experience certain things which change us forever, so much so that we reference our lives as before or after the moment; for some it is before marriage/ after marriage, before kids/after kids, for others of us it was Hurricane Katrina and now we have COVID-19, coronavirus. COVID-19 seemed far away until I was sent home from work several weeks ago. Initially I thought I would be home for a few days, come back up to the Parish Office, get some work done while I was there alone, and the news media would be proven wrong, and things would come back to center. Weeks later I am recalculating. Like many of us, my calendar has been wiped clean, several weddings, a funeral, a baby shower, birthday parties all gone, to be rescheduled when things have improved. When it is safe, we will gather with our extended family and friends and mark the particular moment in time as we remember and celebrate the love which we believe holds us all together. One of the things which held me together for many years, in fact for my entire Catholic life, is the celebration of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday I don’t miss a service; it is the one stop shop which has kept me hanging on and hanging in there when the going gets tough. I have occasionally pondered why this fact holds true and while it is impossible to really dissect the Holy Week experience I have distilled it to one thing...smells. Strong and otherworldly sacred chrism perfume fills me, body, mind and spirit. In the heat of a Louisiana August, Easter can seem a world away but here I will tell you my secret...when the day feels awful, unbearable and I am basically beyond the pale I shut my office door and walk over to the church. I look around to make certain I am alone. Taking a seat (near the back most of the time…) I settle in, close my eyes and allow the Holy Spirit to ask me for this dance. We sashay past the front pews where a baptism must have taken place recently because I picked up on a faintly lingering scent. Ahh, it is the Sacred Chrism and oh that smell takes me right back to 6 THE CATHOLIC CONNECTION
the Easter Vigil, that one night when we stand at the tomb and wait for the rock to be rolled away, that one night when we as a people to recount our salvation history, the one night we together, wait in darkness until the light of Christ is revealed Long to us. Yes, dear readers, it is true. Exhaling, after the moment of memory has passed,I am good for “another thirty thousand miles,” which in ministry and life can happen pretty quickly. So, during this time of solitude with no public services for Holy Week something happened as only God can orchestrate. I received a text message from a friend who wondered if I would like some muscadine juice to make jelly. I texted back yes! With social distancing in mind I picked up the juice and waved goodbye. It sat in my fridge for a couple of days and then a couple more and then began to feel like a homework assignment. On Monday of Holy Week I was reminded that God has a sense of humor and impeccable timing. As the juice warmed, the fragrance began to release and fill not only my kitchen but every bit of my lung capacity. It took me back to the early days of my conversion, when my view of the Catholic life was bright and shiny. I inhaled over and over again and if Holy Week could not take me to Jerusalem this was the next best thing. Twenty-nine jars of jelly later I felt completely renewed and ready for another round of life. I don’t see my Catholic life as I did in those early days, not bright and shiny but substantial, tested and true like all long lived relationships. Keep the faith my friends. We are not alone, God is bringing us through this time. Look down and you will see we are dry shod indeed. Kim Long is the director of Religious Education at St. Mary of the Pines Parish in Shreveport, LA.
