All churches in South Africa will remain closed for the next 14 days except for funerals.

 Peace in the grace of our Lord Jesus.

 On Monday evening 28 December 2020, President Ramaphosa announced that South Africa has been placed under an “adjusted level 3 lockdown with immediate effect.”  By “adjusted” it means in certain instances it is more strict than the previous level 3 lockdown.

The president said: “All indoor and outdoor gatherings will be prohibited for 14 days from the date hereof, except for funerals and other limited exceptions as detailed in the regulations, such as restaurants, museums, gyms and casinos.”

The president added saying: “Funerals may not be attended by more than 50 people with social distancing.”

As it stands now, all churches throughout South Africa must remain closed for the next 14 days except for funerals. No 36. (3) of the updated regulations states: All social gatherings, including faith -based gatherings, are prohibited for two weeks. after which this provision will be reviewed.

These Level 3 restrictions will remain in place until 15 January 2021.

Hopefully after two weeks we will be able to re-open our churches for public worship again.

Let us continue to use our social media and phones to communicate with one another and encourage one another to persevere responsibly during this difficult beginning of the new year. Let us pray for our nation that the Lord may help us overcome this pandemic. May the Lord strengthen us with wisdom and courage so that we may never give up witnessing to His love as we face the new year with renewed hope.

Sincerely in Christ,

+Joao Rodrigues

Bishop of Tzaneen Diocese

 

Christmas Day 2020 – A Message from Bishop Joao Rodrigues

This week I was shocked to hear about the deaths of 10 religious sisters at Port Shepstone who were suffering from Covid-19. In South Africa we are now in a second wave of the pandemic with some 28 000 people infected and over 700 deaths in the last couple of days. We are not sure how long this second wave will last but it seems like the new variant of the corona virus is much more contagious than that of the first wave we experienced during July. This is not good news for us as we approach new year. We continue to struggle and adapt to this on-going pandemic and at times it seems very confusing and even depressing because no one really knows what’s going to happen next in this regard.

And here we are celebrating Christmas Day in a pandemic. It is a very strange experience for us all and it does challenge us to reflect on the meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ during this global struggle. The key to the Christmas celebration is in John 1,14 of today’s Gospel proclamation:

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Yes, Jesus is God incarnate. The Gospel proclaims that the Eternal Divine Son of God united Himself with humanity by becoming human in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus has made humanity sacred, has restored the divine image in humanity which had been destroyed by sin. And we who believe in the Lord Jesus are “born of God” (John 1,13). In other words, through his Incarnation, the Son of God is now present in humanity and makes it possible for us to become holy like Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the Lord Jesus has made human life sacred with a divine dignity and it is this revelation which shapes our life, enlightens our minds and directs our relationships and behaviour in our interactions and conversations. This awareness which we have concerning the sacred dignity of human life is a wonderful sign of our being saved in Christ. It is this awareness that motivates us to care for one another, to respect one another, to seek the best for one another, to protect and educate one another. In a word, this awareness is what directs our witnessing to Christ in this world.

The pandemic cannot stop us from witnessing to Christ. It only forces us to change the way we witness to Christ. How do we care for one another in a pandemic? How do we show one another that we respect the sacred value of our human life in a pandemic? Surely it means we need to understand how this virus attacks us and how it spreads from one person to another. Surely it means we must behave responsibly in the light of this knowledge and challenge one another to act responsibly as well. Surely it means we must support and encourage the scientists researching and developing vaccines that can boost our immunity against the virus. Think about the doctors and nurses treating the infected people and how vulnerable they are at getting infected themselves. Surely we cannot claim to celebrate Christmas meaningfully if at the same time we behave as though we have no responsibility concerning how this virus spreads from one person to another. Yesterday in one of the radio stations I heard a doctor pleading for people to avoid social gatherings, to wear masks properly in public, to keep social distancing and hands sanitised. Why was she saying this: because if the number of infected people increases as it is presently happening, the hospital beds and medical resources will not be sufficient, meaning more people will suffer and die because the doctors will simply not be able to cope with the increasing demand. Yes, the pandemic certainly has forced us to change the way we witness to the Christmas message and God is really testing us in a new way we never expected would happen in our lifetime.

And so let us pray to the Lord for all the graces we need during this trying time: for wisdom, courage and a spirit of humility to be able to personally witness to the sacredness of human life both in ourselves as well as in others whom we encounter every day and to take care that we do not infect one another with Covid-19.