The Season of Lent is given to use every year to recognize and admit how we have drifted away from God and then to turn back to him as we prepare to accompany his son through his suffering, death and Resurrection. It is a time to focus again on the eternal life God promises us rather than remain caught up in pursuing momentary pleasures here on earth.
Lent always falls during spring – after all, that’s what the word “lent” means – and this is, for most of us, a very busy time as the weather improves and all kinds of activities resume after the lull following Christmas. So, it’s really easy for us to get distracted from the Lenten journey. Not so this year as life comes to a screeching halt because we’re ordered to stay at home to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Of course, having to adjust to life at home – with or without children – is a challenge. As you make the necessary adjustments, I invite you to reexamine your participation in Lent and take this opportunity to refocus on it; Holy Week is only a week away! If you didn’t already do so last Sunday, I encourage you to come join the rest of your St. Katharine of Siena family in participating in the Sunday Mass; it is live streamed at 9:30am and available at any time afterward, as well. Simply respond to the Flocknote invitation that you will receive or go to our parish website (www.stkatharineofsiena.org) and click on SKS YouTube. As you watch the Mass on television, you can pull up the readings and lyrics for the hymns on your cell phone. Last week, we had 640 viewers and it was a much-appreciated moment for us to join together as a faith filled family in prayer and praise of God during these difficult and stress-filled times.
If you have some free time since you’re working from home, or you need to get away from the craziness of having your kids at home all day, you can also turn back to God through Scripture reading, reading a biography of your favorite saint or joining in virtual rosaries throughout the day. Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz are offering excellent, thought-provoking reflections every day that can help us make this Lent particularly beneficial for ourselves. EWTN also offers many opportunities for spiritual growth during these days. Relevant Radio (640 on the AM band) features daily Mass at 1:00pm and Stations of the Cross at 4:35pm every Friday during Lent. And, these are only a few of many resources available; I invite you to take advantage of them as we struggle with the many hardships we face during this time.
As we weather this storm, I want to repeat a few points I made during my homily at the Sunday Mass. First of all, despite all of the commentators’ saying that we’re experiencing something that’s unprecedented, it’s important to recognize that it really isn’t something new; it’s just something new to us. Just google “pandemics in history” and you’ll see that humanity has struggled through a wide variety of pandemics down through the ages. The earliest recorded one was during the Peloponnesian War, beginning in 430BC; an estimated two-thirds of the population died. In more recent times, we’ve all heard of the Spanish Flu pandemic. It lasted over a year and resulted in 50 million deaths worldwide. And, most of us have lived through SARS, when over 9,000 died worldwide in 2002 and the swine flu that killed over 12,000 people between April 2009 and August 2010. We live in a universe that continues to evolve and a world that is very dynamic. We’re continually subjected to natural events that are usually beneficial over time but can, in the short run, be devastating, the result of both inanimate and animate forces. For example, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and wildfires reshape our world and the destruction often brings growth. Earthquakes make mountains rise, volcanoes add landmass and wildfires foster new growth. In the same way, animate activity, such as smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza and coronaviruses, are deadly to some but make the survivors ever more resilient.
Second, as we continue to struggle through this COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve had a number of people ask me, “Did God cause this?” or “Why did God send this plague on us?” These questions sound like the one we heard the disciples ask Jesus in last Sunday’s Gospel: if the man’s blindness is God’s punishment due to his sin or the sin of his parents. Notice how Jesus responds: “It is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” I like to respond that this pandemic is a powerful reminder to us that we’re not in charge – God is. Jesus puts aside any notion that God punishes us. God loves us and wants only the best for us. And, he calls us to trust in him and his plan as we work to make him more visible.
The Lenten Season is given to us every year to help us recognize our own blindness and to allow Jesus to remove our blindness so that we may see him for who he really is – our Lord. So many of us have been blinded by our busyness in the matters of this world – trying to ensure that we can live well here and now. I invite you to reflect on how this pandemic can help you turn to our Lord and be given new sight – a vision of faith in God rather than a focus on the fleeting pleasures of this world.
Of course, before we come to celebrate the joy of Easter, we have to follow our Lord, Jesus, as he goes to his suffering and death on the cross. I’m sure you have all heard that this pandemic will get worse before it gets better. And so, we can accompany our Lord on his way to Jerusalem where he will face suffering and death. The experts aren’t yet sure when we will see light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the coronavirus but we can be sure that our Lord offers all of the faithful the bright light of the Resurrection at the end of our lives. So, let’s use this last week of Lent to prepare for Easter; COVID-19 leads us to do so in an entirely new way!