Fr Tom O’Reilly reflects on the Covid-19 pandemic and asks where can we find energy and meaning to sustain us in these difficult times?
As we grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, many are coping with the death of loved ones, economic hardships, and great uncertainty about the future. We wonder will our lives ever get back to ‘normal.’ Where can we find energy and meaning to sustain us in these difficult times?
As the pandemic grows in intensity, we cannot go out to our churches to commemorate the events of Holy Week and Easter.
But we were being immersed in these events as never before. We are living through a global passion. We can more easily identify with the crucified Jesus who cried out, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’
We feel close to the disciples who retreated in fear behind closed doors with their hopes for a bright future shattered. As families bury loved ones with only a few mourners present, we sense the dejection of the small band who buried Jesus in haste without proper funeral rites.
Easter Sunday, however, follows Good Friday. The disciples of Jesus were completely transformed by the experience of the resurrection. They could now see that God was not absent during Jesus’ passion and death. Rather, in these events, God was entering deeply into human suffering, injustice, vulnerability, hopelessness, and even death itself, to bring us to new life.
The disciples found courage to come out from behind closed doors. They heeded Jesus’ invitation to meet him again in Galilee, the place of their original call, where they could begin the journey of discipleship anew with changed perspective and new energy.
It would be a pity if our emergence from confinement at home is just a return to the ‘normal’ way of life before the pandemic struck. Hopefully, it will be an occasion to begin anew with changed perspectives and priorities.
In a memorable address to the world on 27th March, Pope Francis spoke of the pandemic experience as a call to reassess our way of life and rediscover what really matters in life.
Our fragility and helplessness in facing the pandemic is a reminder that we are not all-powerful, and we need God in our lives. Social isolation and separation from family members bring home to us that life is essentially about relating to others in a loving way.
The self-sacrifice of those caring for the most vulnerable during the pandemic is a strong antidote to the individualism and self-centredness which too often lead to the neglect of suffering humanity today.
We see once more how social inequalities mean that the poor are often most exposed to the disasters that afflict our world. A pandemic, which respects no borders, nations or races, shows us our common humanity and interdependence.
The risen Jesus is calling us again to authentic life and giving us strength to live together as brothers and sisters in the one family of God.
Follow us on Twitter @IrishColumbans