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Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church 1003 North Tyler Street - Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 “Encounter Jesus, Serve Others.” Fr. John Marconi, Pastor [email protected] Deacon John Hall Deacon Lawrence H. Jegley (Retired) Susej Thompson, Pastoral Music Director Wendy Floriani, Director of Youth Faith Formation Denise Dumars, Director of Youth Ministry Laura G. Humphries, Parish Life & Stewardship Director Susie Williams, Facilities & Events Coordinator Shelley Tienken, Business Manager Nan Connell, Accountant Cindy Stabnick, Pastoral Secretary Stacey Matchett, Church Secretary Nancy Handloser, Principal Church Office: (501) 663-8632 • Website: www.holysouls.org • E-mail: [email protected] Facebook: www.facebook.com/OLHSAR Church Office Hours: Closed School: (501) 663-4513 • Cafeteria: 501) 663-6125 • Extended Care: (501) 663-7438 SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY) - APRIL 19, 2020 The article below, which was printed in the April 11, 2020 issue of the Arkansas Catholic magazine, is reprinted with permission from the Arkansas Catholic newspaper - Malea Hargett, editor, and Fr. Greg Luyet. Catholics During 1918 Pandemic Experienced Similar Reality To Today! DÉJÀ VU No public Mass in state during 1918 influenza pandemic By Father Greg Luyet Special to Arkansas Catholic Lent 2020 will be remembered as the time of “social officials was overkill. At the same time, he expressed the Church’s distancing,” the failure by some to believe health officials, commitment to be a good citizen by keeping the doors closed leading to an exponentially rising number of infected people, as the pandemic added more infected and sick people each many of whom died. It will be the Lent, and perhaps longer of day. He observed how “ . a churchless Sunday is for a great no public Masses, except in enclosed convents and the House many persons in this land the embodiment of gloom. But the of Formation. Yet, maybe it will also be a time of deepening silver lining said to accompany every cloud, is in this case a appreciation of the Mass. greater appreciation of the Mass when its public celebration The Diocese of Little Rock and many others throughout shall have been restored, for we know of several persons who the world have experienced times when the public celebration realize now that they never appreciated the Mass until” they could of the Eucharist could not occur due to an epidemic. The not attend. influenza pandemic of 1918 was one time when Arkansans According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the flu killed went weeks without being able to participate in the Mass. about 7,000 people in Arkansas, several times more than the In the Oct. 26, 1918, issue of The Guardian, the state lost during World War I. predecessor to Arkansas Catholic, a priest editor wrote how At first, health officials in Little Rock downplayed the lethality he believed that the closing of churches by the public health (Continued on page 3) Reflection on This Sunday’s Readings FIRST READING: Acts 2: 42-473 disciples who saw him, heard him, and touched him. Our belief is different from theirs, and it faces challenges they “Team Spirit” did not know. Some teams have a life of their own. A good team is not The First Letter of Peter says, “You may have to suffer just a collection of talented individuals. It is individuals working through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith together in such a way that they create something new and … may prove to be for praise.” Gold is precious, but it is better. perishable when tested by fire. Faith is more precious than You can have inadequate members in a good team as gold. When tested by fire it only grows stronger. long as the team sustains all the members. Some teams Our faith may feel weak at times, but those are times for take the ball field, some of them prepare a meal, and some of testing. God is present to us, arms filled with promises, ready them keep a parish alive to its gospel call. The team that formed in the years after Jesus died was to steady our vision and shore up our hope. Faith is not fact. that kind of a group. They taught and prayed, served, and lived It is faith. It struggles deep within the soul, and it survives. It in community. This “Easter team”—the church—worked so is tested only that it might grow stronger. well that miracles happened and their numbers increased. Written by Paul Turner. Copyright © 2010, Resource Publications, Inc., 888-273- God was blessing the work they did. 7782, www.rpinet.com. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Lectionary One of the hallmarks of Christianity is that it is not a faith Bulletin Inserts, Year A: First and Second Readings. for loners. Even though each of us meets God intently in the privacy of our hearts, we meet God fully in the communion of the faithful. You can support your parish community in many ways. GOSPEL: John 20:19-31 You can learn with others, worship in the assembly, do acts of charity with a group, and just spend time with your friends “Get Real” there. When you do, you build God’s Easter team. Those of us who flatter ourselves that we have a “realistic” Written by Paul Turner. Copyright © 2010, Resource Publications, Inc., 888- view of the world may listen to the first reading today and say, 273-7782, www.rpinet.com. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from “Get real!” when we hear Luke’s account of the early, Elysian Lectionary Bulletin Inserts, Year A: First and Second Readings. days of the Christian movement. All seems to be rosy, lots of wonders are performed, everyone shares selflessly, they eat together in “exultation,” and the Lord added to their numbers? SECOND READING: 1 Peter 1:3-9 Well, who wouldn’t be attracted to a group like this? From the wind that swept through the upper room at “Testing Faith” Pentecost as the Spirit of God blew over the face of the waters Faith is not fact. Our belief in the resurrection of Jesus in Genesis, and the fire that appeared over each disciple as the comes from our trust in the promises of God and the faith light appeared at the dawn of creation, Luke’s intent in Acts is of those we love. We call it faith and not fact because it is to show a new creation, a restoration of creation’s original an assurance that comes from deep within our souls. Faith goodness through the working of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit comes with a confidence that the God who made us in who continues to make us into the Body of Christ. goodness has destined us for eternal goodness. We may occasionally, like Thomas in the Gospel, say, But there are times when our faith is tested. We “Get real!” but our ultimate reality in the Spirit is to work continually undergo trials that make us question the goodness of the to make our Christian community a new creation, one in which world and the Creator who made it. We want to believe in others will find God’s joy and beauty. Jesus, and yet we do not have the advantage of the first Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co. -2 - DÉJÀWE VU NEED MORE! (Continued from Page 1) of the flu, overwhelming the medical system along the East of the deaths, have been fearlessly distressing, because if (sic.) Coast. Dr. Jacob Crossan Geiger representing the United family conditions. I hope it will abate soon.” In another letter, Bishop States Public Health Services in Little Rock is reported in the Morris goes on to confide in his sister that the weather had been Sept. 20, 1918, edition of the Arkansas Gazette saying, bad and he believes that increased the fatalities. He described “Spanish influenza is simple, plain old-fashioned la grippe.” the conditions in Little Rock “as bad as war.” The pandemic conditions worsened within a matter of Though the circumstances required “social distancing,” weeks. Each day Dr. Geiger published in the newspaper the people longed to stay connected with neighbors with whom they numbers of those sickened by the flu and who had died. The could not congregate. To satisfy this desire, people stayed on the military, on the other hand, banned the publication of the telephone all day. The calls became so numerous that Dr. Geiger huge number of dead and infected. By the beginning of had to issue a warning in the Arkansas Gazette that the phones October, the newly established Arkansas Board of Health are needed for business and for medical emergencies. If people established statewide quarantine for all communities in could not control their telephone use, Dr. Geiger ordered, the Arkansas. Church leaders petitioned for an exemption from telephone circuits would be shut off to “social” use. the ban on gatherings, but in many places, such as Fort Like Catholics in 1918, we find ourselves unable to attend Smith, the exemption was denied. The closing of churches Masses in our parishes. Like them we hunger for the Eucharist. in Arkansas meant that parishioners could not participate in The men and women who suffered the influenza pandemic of the Mass. Throughout October 1918, the way the Church in 1918 went on to live their faith more deeply. They faced a war, a Arkansas lived its faith changed. pandemic, and anti-Catholic laws and misunderstandings from As an acknowledgement of the pandemic, Bishop John neighbors, especially those whose families had recently emigrated B. Morris relaxed, somewhat, the “regulations of Lent” in 1919.

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