Lockdown and the Protocols of Fear
by Sean Walsh Though I walk in the valley of death I shall fear no evil, for my double jab and face mask comfort mePsalm 23:4; Covid Version For a Catholic the Mass is the “source and summit” of the Christian life. It culminates in a divine speech act, mediated via the priest in loco Christi, which brings us into the Real Presence of Our Lord via the Eucharistic celebration. This Sunday, as last Sunday, congregants will be thanking the Lord, in His presence. And as ever, He will be joyful in receipt of that gratitude, even though most of those offering it will be hiding their face from Him, in an act of cowardice which is, at best, a bit rude. Our Lord offered Himself up to the rest of us in act of supreme sacrifice… the members of my parish, encouraged by the bishops, will lower the mask for about three seconds: enough time to swallow the Host, cover the face again, and then re-engage with the secular protocols of social distancing. Because they are worried that in the presence of Jesus Christ himself, they might catch a virus. How has it come to pass that the Government’s mechanisms of fear have been able to reach into the soul of the most observant – and most of my...