Sydney Catholic Schools’ Director of Mission and Identity, Anthony Cleary, discusses the unique wellbeing ‘lift’ that spirituality can bring in times of challenge, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Farming may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words ‘spirituality’ or ‘COVID-19’. But it is a good analogy to invoke during this pandemic.

“Every so often farmers don’t plant crops for a year: They let the soil go fallow and allow it to regenerate,” Sydney Catholic Schools’ Director of Mission & Identity, Anthony Cleary, explained.

“It’s a bit like this [lockdown] is a fallow time, a quiet time.

“It’s almost like we’ve got the opportunity now to rest and regenerate, to reflect on the lives that we are living – and to take and to use the quiet time purposefully.”

“A person’s faith and spiritual growth is central to their wellbeing” – Anthony Cleary

This might mean reading books forgotten on the shelf. Or doing random acts of kindness, like calling someone in social or home isolation during COVID.

And if lockdown has given families more opportunities to spend time together, faith has also helped them find and maintain a sense of wellbeing.

AT HOME WITH SPIRITUALITY

Dr Cleary said a person’s faith and spiritual growth is central to their wellbeing.

“Belief really does assist us, especially at times where we have suffering or difficulties in our life,” he said.

“That sense of there being a God, or a spiritual sense that we turn to in prayer that gives us comfort in times of distress, I think is very crucial” – Anthony Cleary