Where is God in the Coronavirus?
Martin Saints Classical President Deacon Roberts’ homily from this past Sunday:
In today’s first reading, the Israelites are wandering in the desert. They’re thirsty and angry, wondering why they ever left Egypt. Wasn’t it easier before they started following God? This passage from Exodus ends with a stark question: “is the Lord in our midst, or not?”
If we’re honest, it’s sometimes our question too. It’s fair to ask: where is God in the coronavirus? How is he at work in the present situation?
Sometimes God does deliver us from our trials. He delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Pharaoh’s army was drowned by the sea, and, in today’s reading, they received water from a stone.
With respect to the coronavirus, several hundred people (and counting) in our Archdiocese are gathering online each night to say the rosary together, asking for that kind of dramatic deliverance. All are welcome to join this prayer (details here and here). During this time of quarantine, one way or another, we all need a good prayer habit, including basic petitions for an end to the virus.
But these prayers will require patience and persistence, because often God’s ways aren't our ways. After all, in today’s reading, while Israel has been delivered from one kind of trial, they’re still stuck in a desert. They really are thirsty, worried about their families. God didn’t take ancient Israel straight from slavery to the promised land. Two generations of harrowing and chastening happened in the wilderness. I sometimes wonder if we live in a generation like that – a generation that lives in a time of chastening and pruning.
In the New Testament, sometimes Jesus's authority is based on his healing miracles. They call him the Divine Physician. It can happen. But more importantly, he did not rescue himself when faced with suffering, and he asked us to follow him. In today’s Gospel, the woman at the well is a notorious sinner. What is it that leads her to see that Jesus is the Messiah? Today’s Gospel isn’t a healing miracle. Today the woman at the well is moved to see that Jesus is the Messiah when Jesus “told me everything I have done.” Today it is another kind of love – the Lord’s penetrating knowledge of who we really are, and how he loves us anyway.
So is God with us or not? Is he at work in the coronavirus? Certainly! But how can we know that? How can we see him and find him? Four suggestions:
1. Beware of false prophets, especially people online and on television giving us simple answers that inflame and flatter our biases. The way of the Lord always includes penetrating honesty about our own sins, not scapegoating the other guy. The way of the Lord is always marked by an invitation to self-sacrifice, to fellowship built from generosity. Beware of solutions that don’t have those characteristics.
2. What does building fellowship from generosity look like when we're stuck at home? The first steps are simple. Don't get sucked into life online. Use the computer and the phone, but temperately. Step back from tight feelings of panic or adrenalin. Play, old school style. Breathe. Make some music. Have you seen the videos online, of Italians playing instruments and singing from their apartment balconies? Enjoy your family. Dust off those old board games. Go for a hike; there's plenty of "social distance" in the woods. Read real books, and enjoy the quiet. There is a poem circulating on Facebook, by an Irish Capuchin, Brother Richard Hendrick: "yes, there is fear; but there does not have to be hate. Yes, there is isolation, but there does not have to be loneliness. Yes, there is panic buying, but there does not have to be meanness. Yes, there is sickness, but there does not have to be disease of the soul. Yes, there is even death, but there can always be a rebirth of love."
3. Pray. Definitely, ask the Lord to spare us. But think also of all the saints God made in times of plague. If the sickness takes root around us, the only thing is to become saints. Practically, what that means for each of us will vary according to our vocation and station in life. But if most of us will be at home a lot more (and here are some spiritual reasons why), then let’s make this a time of fruitful spiritual retreat. Pick a simple pattern of prayer for the next few weeks, and stick to it. The Archdiocesan rosary is one idea. Another one: Magnificat magazine is making all its online devotions available for free, with simple morning and evening prayers, as well as Mass readings. Whatever you decide, find some pattern of prayer that can shape your days in the coming weeks. Ideally, do these devotions as a family. Live these next few weeks in a way that you’ll look back upon it, and be grateful for time well spent.
4. Do something outward looking, something for people beyond our own household. Let’s put something in our routine to regularly lift our attention beyond our own four walls. Making that annual pledge to the Catholic charities appeal is one way. Lenten traditions like Operation Rice Bowl are great for the whole family. Or maybe do something simple and local. I know one mom who, whenever she buys diapers, buys a second package to donate to a shelter. Or maybe it’s just checking on an elderly neighbor. Most people reading this homily will be middle class, but this pandemic is going to hit the poorest the hardest. So let your imagination seek something tangible that you can do to help. If you want to meet the Lord and see how he works, “whatever you did for the least of these” is still true.
Bottom line: is the Lord in our midst? YES! The Lord is here. His spirit is with us. If he is chastening us, then the thing to do is to accept that with humility and contrition. Whatever he is doing, the way to find the Lord at all times, especially in a pandemic, is to go deeper into prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is still Lent. The coronavirus is a time to persevere and recommit to those basic Lenten disciplines. A heart softened by these things will perceive the Lord’s hand, always. "Yes, there is even death, but there can always be a rebirth of love."
