The suspension of the Lord’s Service, the absence of holy fellowship and holy communion, are indeed things we can miss. “Ah mercy, Lord, have mercy, I’m gonna really feel the sting of not having church today…” is a right and meet way to feel.
But there is a significant difference between the experience of missing, of mourning the absence of something, on the one hand and being frustrated or despairing, as if the suspension of the Service forecloses any and all devotion.
The absence of the Beloved does not make a Lover throw-in the towel and renounce love. No. For any Lover worthy of the appellation the absence incites greater pursuit. “Okay, we won’t see each other in person for ten weeks? What’s your mailing address, I shall write you letters.”
Let the love and the missing drive you not from devotion but to it: pray Morning and Evening Prayer. Meditate on the collect for the Feast of Mary, read the assigned readings from Scripture, sing a hymn or two, invite those without power to your home for food and drink. Keep the festival of Mary even if we can’t keep the Feast of the Lord’s Table.
In all of the things you do today imitate Mary: Magnify the Lord who remembers the lowly estate of his handmaidens, of which you are one.
