The Second Sunday
of Easter
(A)
Divine Mercy
Sunday
Dear brothers and sisters,
Last evening, while Facetiming with a
couple of friends, I was asked a question which is likely on the hearts and
minds of many people today. My friends asked why God might be causing the
present pandemic to be happening. They went on to clarify their question by
asking why God might allow the pandemic and what good he might bring out of all
of this. They knew, with Saint Paul, “that in everything God works for good
with those who love him, who are called to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
When
Saint John Chrysostom commented on these words from the Apostle, he said:
For if
tribulation, or poverty, or imprisonment, or famines, or deaths or anything
else should fall upon us, God can change them into the opposite. For this is
one instance of his ineffable power, that he can make painful things appear light
to us and turn them into things which can be helpful.[1]
How is it, then, that the present pandemic
can turn to good for those who love God? How is that it can become helpful to
us?
I would first say that these questions about
why God would permit such a tragedy cannot be answered with absolute certainty
because he has not yet revealed his purposes to us in this regard and so no one
can know the answer to these questions.
That said, we can perhaps find some
indication, some hint, of God’s possible purposes in these words of Saint Peter,
which the Church sets before us today:
In this you
rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various
trials so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable
even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:6-7).
We might, therefore, say that the usefulness
of our current difficulties can help us focus again on our faith.
In recent years, it is no secret that many
of us have slowly begun to take our faith for granted. Many have practiced it
with a certain amount of apathy or disregard. When it was convenient and fit
into our other plans, we made time for the Holy Mass, but it was not at the center
of our plans. The Bible was rarely picked up in our homes or read amongst
our families. Family prayer time was minimal, and devotions were often lacking.
We received the Eucharist almost as if it were routine. When we at last gather
again, will anything have changed? Will the genuineness of our faith have been
proved?
Returning to the questions with which we
began, is it possible that the Lord has allowed this pandemic so the genuineness
of our faith might be proved? Is it possible he has allowed this pandemic so our
faith might be rekindled?[2]
Is it possible he has allowed this pandemic so we might devote ourselves anew to
reading the Scriptures, to adoring the Eucharist, and to the communal Christian
life (cf. Acts 2:42)? To my mind, the answer to each of these questions is a resounding,
“Yes.”
Already, several people have contacted me
to talk about some of the unexpected blessings they have found in these days of
sheltering in place. These include a heightened recognition of their longing
for God, especially in Holy Communion; a deeper appreciation for the presence
of God in the sacred writings of the Bible; an unexpected desire to be
with the members of the parish again; a satisfaction that has come from spending
more time with family; and a sense of peace from not being frantically busy all
of the time.
While the pandemic itself is a great
tragedy for humanity, these are no small blessings God has already brought
about through it. It will remain for us to learn these lessons well, and not to
forgot them. Once we are able to gather again at the altar of God, it will
remain for us to imitate those first Christians who “devoted themselves to the
teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and
to the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
While these blessings may not be useful
according to the standards of the world because they will not make us more
efficient or bring about economic prosperity, according to the standards of God
and the Christian life, they are of infinite use because through them we will “attain
the goal of [our] faith, the salvation of [our] souls” (I Peter 1:9). This is
why, having seen these same sorts of blessings brought about by God after
several disasters in his own lifetime, Saint Jerome said, “Let calamity strike,
let every kind of disaster fall, as long as after the catastrophe Christ comes.”[3]
While we remain at home and until we
gather together again, let us use this time well by heeding the promptings of
the Holy Spirit to more time in prayer, to more time spent reading the Word of
God, and to more time in the community of our families. If we do this, our
faith truly can be rekindled, some great good will come out of this calamity,
and we will “grasp and rightly understand in what font [we] have been reborn, by
whose Spirit [we] have been renewed, [and] by whose Blood [we] have been
redeemed.”[4]
Amen.
[1] Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies
on Romans, 15. In Thomas C. Oden, et al, eds., Ancient Christian
Commentary on Scripture, Vol. VI: Romans (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter
Varsity Press, 1998), 225.
[2] Cf. Roman Missal, Collect
for the Second Sunday of Easter.
[3] Saint Jerome, Homilies on the
Psalms, 6. In Thomas C. Oden, et al, eds., Ancient Christian
Commentary on Scripture, Vol. VI: Romans (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter
Varsity Press, 1998), 225-226.
[4] Roman Missal, Collect
for the Second Sunday of Easter.
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