I'm reading Eucharist, Bishop, Church by Metropolitan John Zizioulas, a study of ecclesiology in the early Church. He points out when St. Paul writes to a Eucharistic assembly, he calls it "the Church of God at _____" and ends the letter with a doxology. When he's writing to more than one Eucharistic assembly he calls them "Churches" in the plural, and he refers to the Christian community in general as "the saints."
The Church, the body of Christ, is manifest when we participate in the Eucharist. St. Paul explains it in 1 Cor. 10:16-17: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread."
Not only was I blown away by how thoroughly the relationship between Church and Eucharist is woven into the New Testament, but it hit me why it's so wrong for us to shut our doors on Sunday mornings. Without the Eucharist, we're not the body of Christ. Rather, we're just the body of Christians. Masks, social distancing, and the like are all issues within the Church. But an empty parish on Sunday mornings isn't a problem within the Church, it's the absence of a Church.
The way forward:
1. Pray for my bishop.
2: If a parish I attend closes, contact my bishop and ask him to reconsider.
We can't blame the hierarchy if we don't pray for them or keep them accountable.