Dearly Beloved in Christ,
Psalm 23, the hymnal of comfort, is the most sung and first taught scripture portion by our parents during our childhood. It is read as, 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.' We are going through the experience of a darkest valley now and as we are taught we should remain fearless. Corona Virus is spread everywhere in the world and anybody can be infected without any discrimination. Though we thought first that we are immune, but now we know that it can be on our door step. As a part of control measures, people are asked to stay home and keep social distancing.

For the Christian Churches this is the most holy season. The holy Great Lent is coming to an end soon. For us fifth April is the Palm Sunday and from that Sunday evening we commence holy week commemorating the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We observe the Passion Week with great spiritual commitment. Ninth April is the Maundy Thursday, the day of remembrance of the institution of our Lords' Supper, the Holy Eucharist. Tenth April is the Great Friday we would not have ever missed in whole of our life time. This is the day of prayer and chanting when we experience together the intense love of our Lord shown to us on the cross. Eleventh April is the Gospel Saturday and we remember all our departed ones in Christ. Sunday twelfth April is the feast of resurrection, Easter, the greatest feast in our tradition. We grieve in our heart that we cannot observe these days together in our parishes with the congregation of all our faithful during this year. It is sorrowful and it is not easy for us to conceive this loss. Now we have to think another side of reality. The whole world is going through a grief-stricken situation. People across the nation are facing the deadly Virus infection. Death toll is rising, infections are mounting up. Innocently many might become carriers of this Virus. The whole human kind is facing a crisis which is one of the greatest in the human history. We do not need to look for the reasons and answers for the cause of the Virus, Science will find concrete answers.

Our Lord Jesus Christ had taught us: 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ [St. Matthew 9:12-13] As per His teaching we should show our mercy to whole world now. So we see two extremes on both our side. One side is the century’s long congregational services and on the other side we see the agony of the infected people and those who are in fear across the nations. How we could keep a balance between these two. We should follow what our Lord had taught us. Church is the body of Christ and it is one holy, catholic and apostolic church as we daily recite in our creed. Church being the body of Christ, it has the responsibility to upkeep the welfare and safety of the mankind. Church should not become carriers of infections. Church should not become a catalyst for spreading any devastation like the present uncontrollable pandemic infection. Our imprudence and irresponsibility should not make others to suffer. Our faith tradition do not say that we will not fall sick, on the contrary we should support all attempt to save the mankind for healing. That is also our social responsibility which is very much a part of our faith. Saving the God's creation is a sacramental act. We need to learn from the current scenario how frail and fragile we are, how vulnerable and sensitive the creation is.

Success and failures, wellness and sickness, birth and death, happiness and sorrows, profit and loss all those are part of life. A committed Christian should know how to stay calm and peaceful in any situation. St. Paul, the blessed Apostle had taught us: 'I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.' [Philippians 4:12-13] We should follow the state and local norms and orders for any of the services. Online streaming of sacraments and liturgies are ultimately not doctrinally accepted. But in this given situation on-line participation is the second best option as a special dispensation.

We bestow our heartfelt support and prayers to all the supporting people like doctors, nurses, police forces, governmental authorities etc. who are in the mission of alleviating the current affairs. They are all in course for the healing which is a divine act. We offer our prayers for the scientist and researchers that they will be able to reveal the mysteries of the Virus and that may be able to originate the right and appropriate remedies. Finally to all our faithful I exhort not to lose your heart. We should always have a prayerful heart. It is the will of God almighty that we should remain home or wherever we are. It is the divine decision that we should cancel our travels and movements in this time of distress. Probably our fasting and repentance are not sufficient enough. Let us invest our time more for learning of the scripture and for timely prayers. 'The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.' [Isaiah 59:1] Our Lord is compassionate and with His unfailing love, together we will overcome this crisis. Let us be united as one in our prayers. May the love of the Father, the grace of His Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forevermore. Amen.