My Dear Parishioners,
Dare we hope in a world that is suffering? It can seem impossible, even insensitive, to talk of hope when people are sick or dying, anxious or isolated, unemployed or otherwise burdened.  And yet, in these days of isolation, uncertainty, suffering and grief caused by the pandemic, the message of Easter is the same as it has been from the beginning, Christ is Risen, Alleluia.  We cannot allow the present darkness keep us from proclaiming that in Christ, God will always have the last word and it will be a word of eternal life and love.  In the past few weeks, I’ve seen this love played out in so many small and large gestures of hope and solidarity. 
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Friends, in an effort to continue the practice of our faith in these trying times, when many parishes have closed due to restrictions around the coronavirus, we invite you to join us online for daily Mass from Bishop Barron's chapel, celebrated either by Bishop Barron himself or by Fr. Steve Grunow, CEO of Word on Fire.
 
The video will be posted below at 8:15am ET each day.
https://www.wordonfire.org/daily-mass/  Well now that Lent is over, it’s time to find new ways of coping with this pandemic.  Some in the high-risk group are taking very seriously the call to protect themselves and others by staying home.  This is a good thing.  But I hear rumors of friends and neighbors in groups of less than 10 and sitting at least six feet apart enjoying an evening cocktail.   In this article Michael P. Foley believes in moderation this also could be a good thing and points out that there is precedent for this in our Catholic Faith Tradition:
 
Saint Arnold of Metz (580–640) is a patron of brewers because he saved his flock from a plague by admonishing them to drink beer instead of water. As for the stronger stuff, one of the reasons why medieval monasteries were pioneers in the development of distillation is the conviction that alcohol had medicinal value. The first written reference to whiskey is in a medical document by Irish monks in which whiskey (I kid you not) is prescribed as a cure for “paralysis of the tongue.” Monks also developed herbal liqueurs as tonics for different ailments. The most famous of these is chartreuse, a magical elixir that has been made by the Carthusians from 130 hand-picked herbs in the French Alps for the past five hundred years. The formula is so tightly guarded that only two monks at a time know it.
 
In this spirit, why not ward off worries about coronavirus by sipping green chartreuse? At 110 proof or 55 percent alcohol, it comes awfully close to the 60 percent minimum necessary for becoming the virus’s mortal enemy.  But if this celestial nectar is too strong for your palate undiluted, try a Last Word. One of the greatest products to come out of Prohibition, the perfectly balanced cocktail fell into oblivion but more recently has made an impressive comeback.
 
Last Word    ¾ oz. gin
                       ¾ oz. green chartreuse
                       ¾ oz. maraschino liqueur
                       ¾ oz. lime juice
Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.
 
One final suggestion is to drink in honor of the saints invoked against contagious diseases. As it turns out, there is a Saint Corona, and believe it or not she is traditionally invoked against pandemics. Readers are welcome to participate in a contest I am sponsoring to honor Saint Corona by finding or inventing the most appropriate cocktail with which to toast her (simply go to the Facebook page of Drinking with the Saints).
 
In the meantime, turn to Saint Roch, who during his life helped victims of the Plague, sometimes curing them with the sign of the cross. There is a legend that upon Saint Roch’s death God promised that he who “calleth meekly” to the saint will not be hurt by any pestilence, and one way to call meekly to Saint Roch is to toast him with a stiff bracer. Cocktails may not make the coronavirus go away but used in moderation they can steel our courage and reduce a sense of panic. And that, too, is important to our overall health.
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In addition to our Easter Offertory, the second collection this weekend is for The Priest Retirement Fund.  This is the primary means by which those Priests who have served for decades in the Diocese of Savannah are cared for in their later years – years that many still spend in active ministry – think of Fr. Pat O’Brien, Msgr. Costigan and Bishop Boland. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
There are saints being made in our present crisis. We will never know their names or stories, but I know we will look back on these as days when men and women performed beautiful acts of courage and love for their neighbors.  I am thinking not only of the doctors and nurses, or the priests, nuns, and laypeople serving the sick and dying. There are saints being made among mothers and fathers who are keeping the hope of God alive for their children in a time of “sheltering at home.”
 
…..Where is God in this pandemic? The saints always answer: Where there is love, there is God. So, let us love.   Pray for me, and I will pray for you.
    
   --- Most Reverend José H. Gomez is the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Catholic community. He also serves as President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.