Living our Faith during COVID-19 by Fr. Joseph Evinger
Brothers and sisters, as our country experiences COVID-19, I want to say a word of faith, hope, and love.
Faith: None of us knows how the details of the corona virus epidemic are going to play out in our country, state, or community. Yet anyone with faith knows that this is going to be only for a time, not an eternity. Before the world was created God knew that this was going to spread across the world in 2020. It’s not beyond His control. We don’t need to be filled with great anxiety. We simply need to use the reason and intellect God gave us so that we can make rational decisions. Faith tells us that this is passing and that we are made for heaven not earth. Guided by faith, reason gives us the details of what to do in the moment. Let’s make use of both of these gifts during this time.
Hope: Right now we do not see the other side of this epidemic, but no matter how bad things get or how good they remain, we know that our true hope in not in anything that is on this earth, not even in our bodies. Rather, our hope is in Him who created us for heaven. Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we trust in You. As You have done in the past we know that You will pull us thru this too.
Love: According to what we know about this virus, most will be affected very little. It will be like a cold or the common flu. But particularly for some of the elderly, this could be dangerous. Let’s take this opportunity to recognize those who have passed their wisdom and talents to us. Let’s thank our parents and grandparents, our elderly neighbors. Let’s especially pray for those who are in assisted living and nursing homes. These places are on lock down. Some of these folks get little visitors. Therefore, let’s call them if we can. If they are hearing impaired, let’s leave a message with a staff member to give them greetings that they may know they are not forgotten. Let’s not stop showing them our love.
If most things are shut down at some point like we’ve seen in Italy and other places, this is a good time to start praying together as a family, to catch up with neighbors via phone or other means. This is valuable time to grow in relationship with God and those people around us. Let’s read some spiritual books. Take this opportunity to grow in faith, to grow in trust in God, to grow in love. We could just watch Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or other media outlets during this time. From time to time it may be okay. But let’s not waste this time on passing things. Let’s go to the Lord that He may increase our faith, hope, and love.