As we emerge from our COVID ordeal, a new crisis calls us to deeper holiday reflections

This editorial represents the consensus opinion of The Daily Herald Editorial Board.

At the start of Passover 2020, with the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic a fresh and urgent mystery, we reflected on the special challenges the emerging disease posed for followers of three major religions whose central holidays converged then, as now, at this time of year - Christian Easter, Jewish Passover and Muslim Ramadan.

Today we are struck by how much has changed and how little in two years.

Consider in particular, the following passage from our April 8, 2020, editorial:

"While we lament the loss this year of treasured traditions, we also pause to remember the meanings of the religious holidays - and how they resonate a little more deeply in these troubled times.

"Passover, for example, mixes the bitter with the sweet as it tells a story of freedom and hope.

"Easter commemorates resurrection and faith.

"Ramadan emphasizes charity and self-reflection, and those qualities, we know, are needed now more than ever."

When we wrote those reflections, we were fretting over the prospect of conducting commemorations and ceremonies in a period of quarantine. We could not then imagine that our restricted celebrations of cherished spiritual traditions would persist for the next 24 months. So, it is tempting to exult in the feeling that this year we can participate in holiday observances together, not in perfect safety, perhaps, but more openly and more safely than in the past.

But life has a way of warning us to beware of premature enthusiasm - and to never forget the foundational precepts of our faith. This year, as we recoil at the images of destruction, agony and death streaming out of Ukraine, we cannot deny that the strain on our convictions remains intense. Different, certainly. But equally profound - and evocative of the same call to find the deeper meanings of our beliefs in troubled times.

In a Saturday story by the Daily Herald's Madhu Krishnamurthy, the Rev. Yaroslav Mendyuk, a pastor at Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church of Palatine, expressed the sentiment from a Christian and directly personal perspective.

"It's probably the most emotional Easter in everybody's life, (for) every member of the Ukrainian community," he said, adding later, "It is calling us to more prayer, to more reflection on world suffering."

So it is. And that goes for non-Ukrainian Christians and Jews and Muslims and, for that matter, members of all faiths at a difficult time when heartbreaking human suffering is on display every day and the threat that it will not only persist but may expand throughout the entire world looms ever in our minds.

Yes, we can share seders together this year. We can gather in groups for iftar at the end of a long day of fasting. We can crowd into churches and public ceremonies to rejoice at the good news of the resurrection. These are circumstances devoutly welcomed.

But new trials challenge us, so the closing words of an editorial now two years behind us ring fresh and ominous again.

"We may celebrate different holidays this month, but we can all unite in our prayers and wishes for healing ... for comfort to those grieving unspeakable losses and (for) strength for leaders and scientists working toward a better day."