Faith and Mission 

Like every Victorian, I have felt the relief that has come with the recent loosening of restrictions concerning our last lockdown. Many in the community will have suffered financially, emotionally and spiritually in this period.  Whilst the lockdown is hopefully permanently over we cannot be sure it will be until the global pandemic itself is over.

With this in mind, I share some of the Holy Father’s wisdom in one of his recent reflections in this difficult time.

Pope Francis encourages us to reflect on these thoughts:

'I do not consider this as ISOLATION/Lockdown having to stay at home with whom we love. 

* Isolation is what the seriously ill are experiencing in hospital. 

* Stop saying that you are bored, upset that you can't leave the house; while everyone in the hospital wants to go home. 

* So, thank God if you have to stay at home, because despite everything, with money or without money, with a job or without a job, you have a home.

* Perhaps it is time to transform your house into a wonderful place to stay, a place of peace and not of war, of embrace and not of distance. 

* Anyway, look with different eyes at the situation you are experiencing !! 

* Make your house a party:  Listen to music, sing, dance... 

* Make your house a place of worship: Pray, pray, meditate, ask, thank, praise, plead ... 

* Make your home a school: Read, write, draw, paint, study, learn, teach ... 

* Make your house a store: Clean, order, organize, decorate, label, move, sell, donate ... 

* Make your house a restaurant: Cook, eat, try, create recipes, grow spices, plant a garden. 

 * Exercise and be fit as it is said in the Bible 1 Corinthians 6-19: 'your body is a temple'.

 * Take care of yourself anyway ... 

* Make your house, your family, a place of love. Make the best possible use of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.'

Lockdown or no lockdown, these wise reflections could apply to us all, all of the time.

May all families in our college community enjoy a blessed term break.