What would life be after the pandemic? What are our post-pandemic plans for so uncertain a future? And, if there are, what is the percentage of success? Who really knows? But first and foremost, how do we overcome the unpredictability of this continually mutating microorganism that threatens our physical and emotional health? May God help us in every step we do.
Let us admit it: we have lost control of many things in our life because of the virus. While we still expect for the worst from this “invisible enemy”, we continue however to hope for the best. Right now, we live the “new normal” in this time of epochal change when health and social protocols are part and parcel of everyday life. We all are in the same boat, so we are invited to “paddle together”, by being concerned for one another, even with physical distancing still in effect. How disposed are we to fight the virus in synergy so that we can “heal as one” and live meaningful lives as well?
For one reason or another, without consciously admitting it, we human beings, have greatly contributed, if not the real cause, to this pandemic because of our misuse and abuse of things “visible and invisible” that God created. There seems to be the problem of interpreting the word of God. In the book of Genesis, God tells us to “subdue” the earth. Many understood the word “subdue” as “misusing”, “overusing”, “abusing”, “exploiting”, “dominating”, “trampling” instead of “respecting”, “developing”, “caring”, “healing” the elements of our planet, especially the most important “element”, the human person, made in the “image and likeness” of God. In many instances, in fact, we have the tendency to misinterpret God’s word as Jesus himself says: «You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right»? (Lk 12:56-57). When the Hebrew word “subdue” is rendered as “radah”, it implies that man is to govern over created things as subjects, not as objects; not as a tyrant but as a compassionate leader. Man is also to walk with and have a relationship with his subjects so that they can provide for man and that man can “learn” from them.
There are also positive aspects of the Covid-19 rampage that afflicts our common home. First, it made us realize that “to be productive and relevant”, we have to find new ways of doing things, not as we “always used to do in the past”. Just think of the “new means” we have finally entered into in our specific Pauline mission. The pandemic woke us up or “forced” us to use, for example, social media, which for a long time only very few have ventured into, many on an individual capacity. Second, we acknowledge that human health is a prerequisite for human wealth. Even the health of the economy is contingent and should be measured on the integral health of the people that comprise it and the environment in which we all exist. Third, if we want greater success in confronting the pandemic, we have to “pray and work” like in a harmonious orchestra, under the baton of the one and only Master, Jesus Christ!
The fourth positive aspect specifically concerns us, consecrated persons, called to «give splendid and striking testimony that the world cannot be transformed and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes» (LG 31). The Paulines «who live to imitate Jesus, are called to bring their own gaze into the world, a gaze of compassion, a gaze that goes in search of those far-off; a gaze that does not condemn, but encourages, frees, consoles; a gaze of compassion» (Francis, Homily during the 24th World Day for consecrated Life, 1 February 2020). To live our “here and now” in this time of (and after) the pandemic, let “the Word of God, light for a time of uncertainty” be the rock foundation of our everyday life. May the Word, that becomes also Eucharist, be our “daily bread” that will sustain and make us strong along the way.
We are called as well to live our faith in fidelity to the “Pact”, not with fantastic plans for the future. With or without the virus, we are asked to live our days in a spirit of readiness and trust in Divine Providence, not like «in the days of Noah… days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man» (Mt 24:37-39). And the words of the Master still compel us: «So do not worry and say, “What are we to eat?” or “What are we to drink?” or “What are we to wear?” All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil» (Mt 6:31-34).
So, let us strain ahead with greater confidence by not striving all by ourselves as Pope Francis reminds us: «So that when we have our back to the wall, when we find ourselves at a dead end, with no light and no way of escape, when it seems that God Himself is not responding, we should remember that we are not alone. Jesus experienced total abandonment in a situation he had never before experienced in order to be one with us in everything. He did it for me, for you, to say to us: “Do not be afraid, you are not alone”» (Homily, Palm Sunday, 5 April 2020).
This pandemic has indeed brought us insecurities and uncertainties, impotence and despair, morbid fear and anxiety, a sense of abandonment. But Christian hope does not delude. It could contaminate everyone so that fresh life may spring anew as the Holy Father tells us: «This is a different type of “contagion.” It is a message transmitted from heart to heart – for every human heart awaits this Good News. It is the contagion of hope, “Christ, my hope, is risen!” This is no magic formula that makes problems vanish. No, the resurrection of Christ is not that. Instead, it is the victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not “by-pass” suffering and death, but passes through them» (Urbi et Orbi, Easter of 2020).
In spite of the virus, let us live in the name of love. With our Father Saint Paul, we profess: «So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love».
