THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON OUR COMMUNITY
THE EFFECTS OF COVID- 19 ON OUR COMMUNITY
Introduction – With grateful hearts and thanksgiving to God, we ended the Year 2019. Everyone was looking forward to having an enchanting and blissful year 2020, with the beautiful plans for the year. Little did anyone perceive something precarious was lurking around. A pandemic that suddenly reverberated the whole world was loading. This Pandemic was brought about by a virus known as Corona Virus Disease which was first reported to the World Heath Organisation on December 31, 2019. It was believed to have originated from Wuhan in China.
Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease, which cause people to experience mild to moderate respiratory illness or severe in some people. From Wuhan in China, where it originated from, it soon spread to other parts of the world, leaving hundreds and thousands of people affected and some dead. COVID-19, left in its trail fear, uncertainty, confusion and even deaths with no single solution in sight.
COVID-19 soon made its debut in Nigeria, with an index case confirmed in Lagos on February 25, 2020 by Federal Ministry of Health. A case involving an Italian citizen working in Nigeria who returned from Milan where the pandemic was already spreading.
Changes – Governments at State and Federal levels began to make some changes and adjustment in their effort to contain the spread of the virus. One of such changes was a temporary ban on public gatherings. There was also a lockdown and stay at home injunction by the government. These changes affected places of worship, churches, markets, schools, etc. The Catholic Church was affected; public gatherings for our liturgical celebrations were put on hold, the lay faithful were being prevented from attending daily Masses, unimaginable! Some of our convents were not opportune to have daily Masses; they resulted to doing communion services. Some of our convents were extremely lucky as priests come from the parish to celebrate the Holy Mass with the Sisters. May God bless all our priests, who provided spiritual nourishment to us during this period of COVID-19. Amen.
Our Involvement and Contributions: Our religious communities were actively involved in praying (Adoration, Holy Masses, praying the Rosary etc.) for God’s intervention, to remove the virus from our common home, the earth and to inspire scientists to find a cure for those already infected. In practical terms, we produced face masks and distributed them free of charge.
Effects of COVID-19. The effects of COVID-19 would not be forgotten in a hurry by all and sundry.
Positive Effects: The lockdown gave us ample opportunity to pray more and do a personal retrospect on the essence of life and who we are. There was a reawakening that the essence of our vocation is ‘Being with God and not so much of Doing’. The fact that we are all children of the same Father, God the maker of heaven and earth made a deeper impression on people across the globe. And more accentuating, is the fact that both rich and poor are vulnerable and that we depend on God for survival from all forms of attack on our lives.
There was also an awareness that life is God’s gift to humanity and no one has monopoly of power over this life except God. So, the need to stay safe and alive became perceptible.
There was more community bonding without the distractions of work, apostolate, meetings, travels etc. The presence of each other was a soothing balm and strength that helped us pull through the boredom of lockdown.
The use of social Media- In the wake of COVID-19, the positive and beneficial use of social media was cascading. Masses, homilies, Catechesis were streamed on line, through the various social media outlets – Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and WhatsApp. There were also series of educative, insightful and proficiently delivered seminars on line through the use of Zoom. This was beneficial to a good number of our sisters. The huge realization that the Internet is a continent of its own, that it needs to be explored to advance the spread of the gospel values of Christ became crystal clear.
Negative Effects – COVID-19 forced us to practice some norms as normal – “New Normal”. Social distancing deprived people of that warm handshake and embracing, which are normal way of greeting and welcoming others. Those who lost their loved ones and had to put them to rest during the period of the lockdown, were deprived the consoling presence of the members of their religious family.
Impact on the economy and productivity – Individuals, families, organisations, religious Institute, the church and the society at large will count their colossal economic loss at the end of COVID-19.
The impact on the liturgical worship and gathering – The longing and waiting for the churches to reopen attest to the fact, the church had her own share in the impact of COVID-19. Nothing can replace the communal aspect and the public liturgical celebrations of our faith.
In Conclusion – “Be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.” (1Thess 5: 18). We thank God for hearing our prayers and for averting the disaster of COVID-19. Normalcy is gradually returning to life. We pray for God’s mercy on those who lost their lives.
We were part of an epoch-making history with COVID-19 Pandemic, where thousands were affected and many lost their lives. We were not around during the Spanish Flu of 1918, when the world also experienced a similar Pandemic that claimed millions of lives. The lessons learnt and the experiences of COVID-19 will shape our individual lives and the world at large.
May God, through the Intercession of our Mother Mary continue to protect us from all form of evil, diseases and dangers through Christ our Lord.
Jane Marie Ojapah, EHJ
