Wesley Granberg-Michaelson on Navigating Pandemic Life with a Pilgrimage Mindset

"A Lutheran bishop and I were reflecting on what will happen to the church as we begin to emerge, hopefully, from COVID-19. 'Some theology could help,' he observed. We should think more in terms of resurrection and not resuscitation.'

"This pandemic has been traumatic. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost people they know and love. But all of us have experienced a massive disruption of our lives. It's broken our assumed faith in normal securities and predictability, exposed our vulnerability to sickness and death, and revealed stark injustices in our society like a societal MRI, showing the sickness that is there beneath the surface.

"None of this was predicted or planned for. Its onslaught was all largely out of our control, worsened by governmental dysfunction. I'm reminded of a line from a poem by David Whyte: 'What you can plan is too small for you to live.' The pandemic, I think, has shown our addiction to predictability and security and how we seek these through mastering our present and future."

In a recent U.S. Catholic commentary, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson reflected on ways we can emerge from this pandemic as if on a pilgrimage.

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U.S. Catholic: Catholic Voices: To navigate pandemic life, adopt a pilgrimage mindset (August 2021)