Learning from the Past (Part 3 of 3)
These past weeks, we’ve reflected on the lessons of the coronavirus pandemic in anticipation of the feast of Pentecost. Balancing self-preservation and prudent charity and slowing our frenetic pace for prayer and family will help us grow through that difficult time. Now we turn to our last question: what did the pandemic teach us about God?
As Pope Francis stood in the empty St. Peter’s Square in March 2020, he reflected on the Gospel story of the calming of the storm at sea (Mk. 4:35-41) and asked on behalf of the world, “Do you not care that we are perishing, God?” Was the Father of Jesus Christ absent during the pandemic? Was he asleep while we suffered? “Of course not!” we piously respond. Yet we must acknowledge those parts of us that felt confused, abandoned, and alone at times during the lockdown and beyond. Seniors who never had a graduation, freshmen who struggled to make friends, toddlers who lacked socialization, workers who hated remote work, and the elderly or infirm who suffered in silence. How do we explain God’s seeming silence?
Pope Francis’ reflections are worth reading in full (google “Pope Francis covid moment of prayer”), but two points merit mention. First, Pope Francis challenged us to ponder the question, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” He lamented, “We did not stop at your reproach to us, we were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick. Now that we are in a stormy sea, we implore you: ‘Wake up, Lord!’” While nothing happens without God’s will, he sometimes allows the consequences of our actions to be felt more acutely so that we can be converted back to him away from those attitudes that are making our world sicker. This is a difficult message, but one that Pope Francis did not hesitate to proclaim during that Lenten season: “Now is the time of salvation. Be converted to the Lord!”
But Christ was always present and active even when he seemed passively asleep. God never loses control of the rudder of the universe. Because “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him” (Rom. 8:28), anything unfortunate or uncomfortable or even evil that happens to us can be used by God for a greater good. Without the storm at sea, the disciples might not have grown in greater faith. Jesus asked his disciples, as Pope Francis asked us back in 2020, to trust that God’s plan is always better than our own. God calls us to radical lives of trusting prayer to him and solidarity with our neighbor, perhaps especially when we are hurting. Because chances are, 2020 will not be the only global catastrophe of our lifetimes. How will we respond when the next wave arrives?
Next week at Pentecost, we celebrate the Apostles’ bold witness by the Spirit’s power. Let’s ask for the conversion of heart and the trust to do the same!