We’ve been through a lot over the past several years and our lifestyle, culture, and habits have drastically changed. Among the numerous new considerations we’ve had to make for work, school, and health, there are also a host of new words. There is one in particular that I’ve been reflecting on these past few days: quarantine. I usually associate the word with isolation and loneliness, and rightly so. It means by very definition, “a state of isolation.” As I stop to consider how I’ve learned to cope with this and other negative effects of the pandemic, I see that I’ve learned a whole new way of life. Believe it or not, quarantine itself has strengthened and grown new and healthy “muscles” of connection that I never knew I had, leading me to a stronger, healthier understanding of a Eucharistic life.

A crippling snowstorm in the Midwest gave me pause to stop and realize I was automatically using these muscles. One morning, in the heart of the snowstorm, I walked from my home to Mass at the neighborhood church. A neighbor caught up with me in the empty streets. We took turns calling out when a car was approaching and saw each other safety to the church steps. Once inside, we unraveled our warm layers and looked about as others did the same. Monsignor was eagerly hearing confessions and preparing for Mass. The scene made me incredibly happy: the storm didn’t stop the normal activity, it actually enhanced it. “This is SO good,” my neighbor said as we entered the church. “It’s things like this that actually make us meet and spend time with one another!”

She was so right! It made me think about what “this” was. The news stations were describing “this” as a crippling and dangerous storm, one that was causing isolation, cancellations, and warnings. That’s when it hit me: covid, and all of its crippling effects, prepared me to not only cope differently in difficult times, but to actually live more fully from them. Ordinarily, I would have felt the crippling effects for the snowstorm deep inside my heart. Instead, I slipped into a routine that felt like home.

I caught up on rest, taking time to read, write, and pray within the natural rhythm of the day. I spoke to friends over the phone and did some work from home. I took night walks in the snow and shoveled my sidewalks and my neighbors’ sidewalks. Time was spent crafting, cooking, trip-planning and catching up on the latest happenings in a galaxy far far away. Friends came to dinner almost every evening. I quickly slipped into a healthy balance of housework and rest. I went sledding with friends. It was glorious!!

The simple truth is this: quarantine helped teach me that connection/communion with others is not contingent on being in the same room with them. One can live in a constant state of community and be completely alone in their heart, while another can live alone and be constantly ready for an encounter with others. The truth behind this is living a Eucharist life; a life lived in and from His presence.

The original quarantine of 2020 was pretty brutal for our world. Those were the days of ongoing isolation at home, scrubbing groceries before placing them on our pantry shelves, watching Mass via livestream, spending holidays with loved ones over video chat, and carefully selecting our social “bubbles.” Many of us got sick. Some even died. We spent days and weeks without access to the Mass, Communion, and even the chance to pray in our churches. Even now, some of us must continue some form of social distancing or isolation.

In the past two years, I had one major surgery and covid three times. Covid sent me to the hospital once and left me with ongoing health concerns. I’ve spent months being sick at home and then spent more months recovering afterward. In that time, I learned how to live more fully and freely from home alone, and how to seek and stay connected with others. I learned how to find His Presence in the Tabernacle of my heart. Those days have changed my life forever – and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I still don’t “do” quarantine very well. In fact, sometimes I get anxious just thinking about it. Complete isolation is never a good situation. I’ll be quite happy if I never have to quarantine again! And yet, as I learned with this snowstorm – I likely will. Life is out out of my control and I do not know what then future holds. But I do know that when those times come, I have an instinctive muscle that will help to see me through and can help strengthen my connection to peace at home and with others. I can dig deep into the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and live from His presence.

This of course, is my muscle, strengthened by my personal experience. And yet I suspect that I’m not alone in this and that you have strengthened your own life through these very trying times in your own way, too. My neighbor’s reaction to the snowstorm tells me that she gets it: we’re not alone. No matter how hard or lonely the days may be, we are surrounded by invitations to embrace our life and the lives around us. This is what it means to live in communion – to live a Eucharistic life. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” MT 11:28