KOTA KINABALU: Every year, Melissa Audrey eagerly looks forward to taking part in the Christian holy week that begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter Sunday.
But Covid-19 has messed it up for her this year. The Catholic church, like many other Christian denominations, has suspended all its activities, including public masses.
In fact, the church decided on the suspension even before the movement control order (MCO) came into effect on April 14, opting to provide live streaming of masses.
Audrey, 40, appreciates the live streams over social media, but misses the spiritual satisfaction of celebrating the holiest week of the year inside a church building.
“To be deprived of spiritual food is painful and truly humbling,” she told FMT. “To be celebrating the greatest occasion of our faith elsewhere just feels like something really huge is missing.
“And the internet reception also sometimes breaks up.”
Audrey, a parishioner at Sacred Heart Cathedral here, does recognise some of the spiritual benefits of having to stay at home. “It gives us more time to reflect, pray and recalibrate,” she said.
“In spite of that, I still wish I could be at church rather than celebrating at home.”
Natalie Aren, a 23-year-old member of the Sidang Injil Borneo Protestant church, said it was “heartbreaking” to be unable to unite in prayer with fellow worshippers in a church.
“At home we will only be with our closest family members,” she said.
“Sometimes the live streams are not available for our congregation in rural areas, where the internet access is poor.”
The Archbishop of Kota Kinabalu, John Wong, is also saddened by the situation, which he said was affecting about 1.29 million Catholics in Malaysia.
“Without the physical assembly of the congregation,” he said, “the liturgies lose their warmth and fellowship. It is in this sense that I feel sad. It is like a parent celebrating a family feast without the presence of his family members.”
He said the Sacred Heart Cathedral and other parishes of the archdiocese had made arrangements for the live streaming of the holy week liturgies.
“It is therefore my hope that the possibility of participating virtually through social media would serve as a consolation for the parishioners’ sense of loss,” he said. “I believe that such spiritual communion with God and with the whole church during this time of pandemic will reinforce their faith.”
But Wong sees a sort of blessing in the closing of church doors. “The worship has entered many Christian homes,” he said. “It has moved from churches and chapels to the homes of Christian families.”
Joseph Leong, who chairs the archdiocese’s Social Communications Commission, also said he had noticed that the MCO had given some spiritual benefits to church members.
He spoke of closer family bonding. “Previously, children, especially the older ones, hardly had time for face-to-face communication with parents and siblings. Now they stay together at home, praying and having meals at the same table.”
He also said church groups communities were being creative in using modern modes of communication.
“They are able to organise their virtual meetings via the internet. Not ideal, but still these are effective ways of communicating during this very trying time.
“As the MCO period faces the real prospect of being extended, I am confident that our people will remain calm, confident and in a state of prayer, reflection and meditation.” - FMT
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