Compassion in the time of COVID-19

An online Games Night was organised by the Youth Ministry of St Joseph’s Church on Sept 19.

Oct 03, 2020

By Clarissa Hoong
An online Games Night was organised by the Youth Ministry of St Joseph’s Church on Sept 19. It was a small and intimate get-together where we were able to catch up with one another, pray, share and have a bit of fun!

We kicked it off with a simple opening prayer, followed by scripture reading from Luke 8:4-15: The Parable of the Sower. We had a fruitful reflection time, and as we each took turns to share, this particular parable struck a question — how do we, as youth leaders, persevere in showing love and compassion to the young people in our community in the middle of a pandemic? Especially when it seems like there is little good fruit despite all our hard work.

Here’s a little introduction about our youth team: we are a collection of young people from diverse backgrounds. We are of different ethnicities and nationalities. Our most recent teammates are from Myanmar! However, since the MCO, our  young people have experienced many struggles.

The COVID-19 outbreak has been a difficult time for us. Due to the current circumstances, some of us face financial difficulties and struggle with having to work long hours. We even have teammates working two jobs, seven days a week just to keep their families afloat with a roof above their heads and food on the table. Some have parents who have lost their jobs and so they have to work to help their families stay financially stable. Others do not have sufficient Internet data to join our virtual youth gatherings as often as they want because they have to save most of their data for online classes. Screen fatigue is also another issue some of us struggle with because of our back-to-back online classes.

It has definitely been a challenging time for our youth team and community. Nevertheless, we never stopped reaching out to each other. We set constant reminders that we have to continue being there for each other. We texted each other, asked about each other’s day, had frequent chats, prayed and played games together online. More importantly, we tried our best to be present for each other in these trying times. Through love and compassion, we can stay connected to each other and live up to the Word of God where we are called to love one another. 

Our little Games Night reminded us that being able to spend time with each other is a gift and encouraged us to continue reaching out to the other youths from our parish as well as those beyond the parish. The Parable of the Sower also reminded us that we just need to continue sowing seeds, nurturing them with love despite the obstacles and difficulties we face, trusting that in God’s time, there will be good fruit. And so, we look forward to continuing our ministry and mission, to be compassionate and present in whatever little way we can!

“What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time…” Ecclesiastes 3: 9-11.

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