CLICK HERE TO WATCH MORE FROM OUR MILMAG LIVE SERIES
Easter is usually a time filled with community, faith and fellowship. However, this year, amidst the ongoing pandemic, the communal holiday for many will have a different feel to it than usual.
On Tuesday, Milwaukee Magazine’s Editor and PublisherCarole Nicksin sat down with Father Tim Kitzke of the East Side’s Three Holy Women Parish during a live stream lunch to talk about faith and hope during the pandemic.
With the concerns of the community’s well being, the parish, like others in the community has been asked to not physically meet, but rather are doing ministry over live stream and Zoom. As Father Kitzke describes it, there’s a new kind of busyness to holy week.
For many reasons, this holy week is different from any other, not only in regard to the aspect of distance and separation but also fear. For a multitude of reasons, the pandemic is a fearful time for many.
However, Father Kitzke encourages us during this time to view the pandemic not as a crisis, but an opportunity for examination of what life was like before the pandemic.
“What I would suggest people do is maybe take it as an opportunity to develop and I think to fine-tune a skill that we’ve been missing lately in our culture—taking time and being yourself,” says Father Kitzke. “and realizing the gift of relationship and the gift of others in your life.”
Father Kitzke talks about finding the blessings during this time and recognizing the things we sometimes take for granted. “We all tend at times to be half glass empty people,” says Father Kitzke. However, he urges us not to think about the glass or if it’s half full or half empty.
“For me, the antidote for the poison of that is gratitude,” he says. This gratitude is part of three points that he had for viewers during the live stream, which were to remember to find gratitude, kindness and joy during the pandemic.
“Be mindful of the blessings that fall across your path when they fall instead of thinking where the path is going,” he says.
For many, trying times like the pandemic can shake one’s faith. Many wonder how God could let this happen or if it is His will. However, Father Kitzke has a different take, saying that this question of why God allows evil to happen, “is not to punish us, but to wake us up.”
For those who may be feeling alone or isolated, especially during this Easter season, Father Kitzke says, “Here’s the most important message I have to tell you: you’re not alone. You’re not alone. The human spirit I believe is stronger than physical presence.”
Father Kitzke’s Easter mas has been posted online. To watch, click here.
