Ways to find hope during a pandemic

Have you let yourself grieve your COVID ­losses? Whether it be a death of a loved one, missing the birth of a baby, a vacation, family gatherings, or even just hugging others? Father?Tom Konopka,?director of the Consultation Center?of the Diocese of Albany, recently gave a talk titled, “Finding Light and Hope in the Darkness of COVID: What has Jesus taught me?” at Christ Our Light in Loudonville — which was joined by St. Clare’s in Albany — to do just that.

There are four tasks of grieving that we go through:
1.  Understanding why.
2.  Grieving painful feelings associated with the loss.
3.  Commemoration.   4.  Moving ahead.

Father Konopka said it is okay to grieve whatever you feel loss for and for whatever length of time feels right for you.

Finding the Lord in the hardest of situations is crucial in accepting and healing from any loss in your life. Father Konopka suggested four ways to use our faith to cope:
1.   Read the Psalms of Lament.
2.  Talk to a trusted friend or family member.
3.  Find some new opportunities for prayer or turn to some old favorite ways to pray.
4.  Create an intentional faith community to pray together.

Father Konopka also reminded those gathered to look to St. Joseph in these times. In this Year of St. Joseph, he is our hope; spend some time talking with him. To see the full presentation, head to Christ Our Light’s YouTube channel (https://tinyurl.com/Christ-Our-Light-Youtube).

Ann E. McCauley, M.Div., is pastoral associate for administration at Christ Our Light Church.