A friend e-mailed yesterday to describe how she and her husband are coping with the lockdown. They’re a cultured household, and are particularly enjoying the arts events available online from theatres and opera houses. And they take a daily afternoon walk around the block. It’s as if regularity of life – plus regular contact with their extended family via the now ubiquitous Zoom – is what keeps them going. That, and a clear hope that all this will end.
We’re all discovering what works best for us in our own, different home contexts. My brother, settled in North Yorkshire with fine views of the Dales, has recently taken to further explorations of family history. He’s coming up with some fascinating stuff. It turns out that our great, great grandfather was a professional artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy: not something you’d intuit if you looked at my artistic ability. But exploring the past can be one good way of escaping the present awfulness.
Whatever lockdown strategies we are employing, some things seem clear. We need to keep ourselves constructively occupied in a regular, ordered way, in the confidence that at some point we shall emerge into a more ‘normal’ world again. But also, as St Paul said, we need to be ‘rooted and grounded in love’: our inner life, our faith, the state of our soul, is what matters most.
Fr John