How should our Catholic community respond to the H1N1 influenza (“swine flu”) virus? It’s a good question.
Recently I issued temporary guidelines for parishes to help protect people from infection and to help slow the spread of the virus in our community. Those guidelines were based in part on recommendations from local public health officials and were made in consultation with the Presbyteral Council of the archdiocese.
At some level, I think we all wonder just how seriously we should take the threat of this new virus. It is true that H1N1 is just another form of the flu, and that the flu unfortunately kills and hospitalizes thousands every flu season. Many believe the threat of this new strain is being exaggerated.
On the other hand, public health authorities are reporting very high numbers of H1N1 cases, including many that are unusually severe and deadly. The president has declared it an emergency and local authorities have asked San Antonio’s religious communities to do what we can to help.
Some of us can remember the great influenza of 1917, which claimed the lives of more than half of our population here in San Antonio. Nobody is calling H1N1 an epidemic. But as good neighbors, responsible citizens, and followers of Jesus Christ, we cannot ignore the possible threat to our community.
Some of the measures I recommended are simple matters of hygiene — making sure that priests and ministers keep their hands clean and sanitized, for instance. This makes good sense during any flu season. It makes even better sense with a flu strain as virulent as H1N1.
My other recommendations concern practices that are not essential to our celebration of the Eucharist — temporarily limiting communion to the consecrated host and distributing it on the hand and not on the tongue; replacing hugs and handshakes with a different sign of peace; and suspending use of the holy water font for the time being.
One thing is very important to remember: These liturgical practices are options; they are not requirements for a valid or beautiful Mass. This is not my opinion. It is the law of the church, found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (which we have posted on our Web site). Limiting these practices for a short time does not alter the essence of the Mass or diminish the beauty and holiness of our worship.
Partaking of the precious Blood or receiving Communion on the tongue are meaningful expressions of our eucharistic faith. But they are not the only ways that a good Catholic can express piety and devotion.
And the extraordinary circumstances we face require us to find other legitimate and holy ways to express our faith — out of solidarity with our brothers and sisters and in the interests of the common good.
That is the larger point that we have to keep in mind as we face the uncertainty of a health emergency. We don’t celebrate the Eucharist in a vacuum. We come to the altar as members of a family and members of a community. And we are sent forth from every Mass with a blessing and a mission — to love and serve God and our brothers and sisters.
The bond of our common humanity and our union with Christ is one of the great truths of the Eucharist. It is a spiritual truth. But we are more than spirit. We are flesh and blood, body and soul. Our bodies are mortal and as such they remain subject to sickness, disease and death. And our mortal bodies can become sick even when we are engaged in our spiritual worship.
In giving his life to us in the sacraments, God does not cancel out our humanity or the physical properties of his sacramental signs. Holy water indeed communicates God’s spiritual blessings, but at the same time it is still water and as water it may carry sickness. The Eucharist strengthens us against sin and is a pledge of our redemption; it is no guarantee against physical sickness or death.
Let us pray that the emergency situation will pass soon and that we can return to our ordinary way of sharing the beauty of the external manifestations of the celebration of our faith.
I am asking Our Lady of Guadalupe, the health of the sick, to bring God’s love and healing to all those who are sick, as we do all that we can to prevent the further spread of illness in our community.