25/04/2020
WAKE-UP CALL FROM OUR LOVING GOD
Written by: Fr. Edwin De Leon Fernandez, SVD
As we are going through this global pandemic crisis, we are not totally sure about the origin of the COVID-19 virus. We are ignorant of a basic truth about its cause, while we have to endure the fears, anxieties and despair that it has sown in many hearts. Questions have been raised, like: Was it a bio-weapon created by a certain country to dominate the world, politically and economically? Was it caused by nature that is having a fit or sort of “tantrums” as its unforgiving response to the abuses that humanity has committed against our planet? I am actually more interested to reflect on why God allowed it to happen. In the Sacred Scriptures and in the history of the Church, plagues and pandemics are taken by believers with a divine significance. They are understood to carry an urgent message from God. They are usually seen as divine chastisement for grave sins committed by unrepentant people, in order to bring them back to the Heart of such a faithful, loving and merciful God. I remember what the Bible says about God chastising or disciplining those whom He loves, like a good father or parent who disciplines his disobedient and arrogant son, in order to renew their loving relationship. Chastisement sometimes is necessary as a wake-up call from God who sees that we have abandoned Him and the ways He has taught us, most especially through Jesus, His Word who became a human being and lived among us.
If we look at the crisis as a wake-up call from God and not just as a health problem or political and economic concern, then we need to figure out the response that God is asking from us. We know very well that marriage and family are realities that have long been undergoing severe crisis in the Church and in the world. So many marriages and families are broken nowadays. I observe that many children hardly show respect and love for their parents. Parents, on the other hand, do not devote enough time for their children. Many young people do not believe anymore in the sacrament of marriage. Worse still, more and more people in the world are accepting the idea of same-sex marriages. Abortions are widespread. People can choose and change their sexuality if they want to. Do you think God would look at all our wickedness with a smile of approval or diplomatic indifference? Should He rather not do something to correct our ways and renew His loving covenant with us? I think we have gotten too busy with our personal agenda, and we have not cared enough for what God wants us to be. We have fed our bodies too much that our souls are sick and lost. We have dreamt too much for a happy life on earth that we have lost sight of our permanent home in heaven. We have believed in the big lie that there is no hell nor judgment at the end of our life, and so we find no need at all to conform our wills and our choices to the will of God. We have chosen not to meditate seriously on death, because we wanted to plunge ourselves into a life where we can do whatever we want and no one should tell us how to live our life.
Then, suddenly, the crisis shakes us all up. It knocks us off from our false securities. It has closed not only our shopping malls but also our churches. Fear and panic have overwhelmed many of us. As days went on, we learned to admire our frontliners, some of whom are dying in their noble cause of saving lives. I am still hoping to see more frontliners in the Church who are willing to take risks to shepherd closely God’s people in these troubled times. Let us remember the words of our Lord: “Whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it.” Is it not disturbing that doctors, nurses, truck drivers, vendors, and grocery store workers are showing much greater boldness in saving lives than those who have committed themselves to follow Christ as shepherds of His people? If it is important to save sick bodies that will prolong our earthly life, is it not more important to save the souls who are in need of God’s grace that leads to everlasting life? Undoubtedly, the crisis has strongly reminded us of the real possibility and closeness of death. The thought of the deadly virus has led some of us, if not all, to examine our life, our faith in God and the love within our families. Perhaps, as we are ordered to stay home, we finally found time to ask ourselves about the things that matter most in our life: our relationship with God and with others. It is my hope that, by God’s prompting, we have felt the need to pray together often as a family, to ask for each other’s forgiveness, to put our hope in God alone and not in ourselves nor in our wealth and achievements, and to obey and love Him faithfully with all our hearts. It is my hope that such changes and transformation will be deeply engraved in our hearts and in our families until the end, even when the COVID-19 crisis has long been over.
