GOD AND COVID-19

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This morning I went to the Roman Missal to look at the prayers and special masses that the church offers us to be used at special times (e.g. in time of earthquake, bad storms, and drought). I figured I might find some good words of encouragement to share on my blog during this virus crisis.

What I found was a mixed bag. The first prayer that I looked at was "In Any Need:" 

O God, our refuge in trials, our strength in sickness, our comfort in sorrow, spare your people, we pray, that, though rightly chastised now by affliction, they may find relief at last through your loving mercy. Through our Lord ...

So the coronavirus is an affliction by which God is chastising us? That left me feeling very uncomfortable. After all, I was about to go into church and spend forty-five minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament and now I was being told that I'd be spending that time face-to-face with the One who is "chastising" everyone in the world (starving children? Elderly folks in nursing homes?). I wasn't sure I wanted to spend face time with that God.

And then I turned the page and found: "Receive, we ask, our prayers and offerings, O Lord, That, suffering from the scourge of our own sins, we may find relief by the grace of your mercy." There were at least two more prayers that referred to the "suffering due to our sins."  I closed the missal, stood up, and walked disappointedly into church, where I sat down in front of the monstrance that held the sacred host, and listened to see if the Lord had anything else to say. 

I was not about to sit there and blame the God of infinite love and compassion for afflicting us with this scourge. A few moments of listening helped me to sense the key concept: "Mystery." I was in the presence of the God of Mystery, whose loving plan lies beyond the reach of our human understanding. This is the God who apologizes to us when the mysterious divine plan involves suffering and death, and who asks our forgiveness for the fact that we cannot comprehend the mystery of evil right now. We will one day, in heaven; Then we will see everything from God's perspective and experience it as beautiful. But not yet. Not now. Meanwhile we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, but fear no evil for God is with us.

As for the business of "suffering from the scourge of our own sins, we may find relief by the grace of your mercy," I suddenly realized that the gospel for today's mass is the parable of the "Prodigal Son," (Luke 15:11 ff.) or "The Forgiving Father." If we place that prayer in the context of that story of the father who completely forgives his beloved son, it sounds a lot better. So, during this time of mysterious suffering, let us be sure that we're praying to that infinitely loving Father of the parable, and not to the vengeful One who "rightly chastises us by affliction."