VIRAL THOUGHTS - LENT AND CORONAVIRUS

LENT AND CORONAVIRUS

‘In God I trust and will not be afraid’ (Ps.56.11)

THE sudden arrival of an unwelcome guest into the life of our nation has caught most by surprise and the consequences of having to live with coronavirus for the foreseeable future will take time to be understood.  The virus’s arrival in Europe may have happened some time ago, but it was at the beginning of Lent it began to make itself known so Lent and the pandemic seem closely connected. 

AFTER Jesus had been living a normal life around the shores of Galilee he seems to have suddenly been drawn south, to the Jordan, by the preaching of his cousin, St. John Baptist.  He must have been aware of the way people were being affected by John’s radical message and the changes it was making in the way people lived, yet it wasn’t until he arrived at the Jordan that he seems to have been affected.  It was then that the Spirit suddenly descended on him and he was driven into the Wilderness for that Lenten period of forty days (Matt.3.13-4.11). Now, we also seem to have suddenly entered such a wilderness period, which also reflects the ‘forty years’ spent by the Hebrew people in another desert (Ex.22.15ff) which they had entered after their liberation from slavery in Egypt.

This motif of suddenly finding yourself in a place of disorientation happens from time to time.  A sudden illness or accident thrusts one into an unexpected place; at the outbreak of World War II, for example, people must have been filled with a variety of concerns:  Will I be safe?  How will I get food for the family?  What will happen to my job?  What will be the consequences?  Will I die?  We’re hardly prepared for such times and, for a while, it can affect us in unexpected ways.

As the Hebrew people began their wanderings, they, like Jesus, had to adjust to life without their accustomed norms. So, they began to want to return to Egypt where life seemed better, wondered from where food would come and, after panicking (never a good thing to do) gave themselves over to ‘eat, drink and be merry …’  Moses had to remind them of what was of fundamental importance, which was to be rooted in their relationship with God.  Perhaps this is a time when we, who live in a society where, for many, the greatest desire is to travel to Disneyworld, need to reflect on what is of fundamental importance to us: what we would like to be remembered for – momento mori.  What is the ground of our being? For both the Hebrews and Jesus this wilderness time was of greatest importance, and Jesus’ three Temptations seem to resonate with our present times.

‘COMMAND these stones to become loaves of bread.’ 

The panic buying and abuse of shop staff that has occurred in some places since the emergency was declared reveal how easy it is for human nature to be corrupted.  No one suddenly turns from civilised behaviour to acting like a vicious animal; corruption has developed over a long time.  Jesus’ response? ‘One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matt.4.4) calls us back to consider the way we seek to live, and the way we have sought to mould the heart of who we are.

              His response also seems to speak into this time when most of us can no longer feed on the Eucharist, Bread of Life, no longer be nourished by Christ’s Real Presence, a loss which is felt keenly by those of us for whom Mass is the ‘centre around which their life revolves’.  Jesus’ response, that we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God touches on the fact that he is the Word: ‘The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this Word He always speaks in eternal silence, and in silence must It be heard by the soul.’ (St John of the Cross, Maxims 21). This is a time when, denied the Bread of Life, we need to feed on the Word in the scriptures. To spend time silently meditating on the Word present amongst all the words we read. What is God saying to us through his Word?

One of the things, I  believe, is that at a time when emotions can get the better of us – fear, worry, irritation, anger etc. we need to recall the gracious words of Jesus in the Beatitudes he taught his disciples and the crowds who followed him: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit … the meek … the merciful … the pure in heart … peacemakers’. This is a time when those who seek to live in Christ need to be expressing those virtues because it’s as easy for the lure of Satan (the Deceiver) to corrupt us now as it was then.  Have we, as a society, been encouraged to chase after the inconsequential, rather than facing what life actually involves?  We need to feed on food which will do more than satisfy our superficial cravings, and to realise that the way we face pain and suffering, the ‘dark’ side of life, help to mould who we are becoming.

‘IF YOU ARE the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: ‘He will command his Angels concerning you …’  Inevitably people want God to ‘do something’ and can become anxious as to why our prayers don’t seem answered.  Some will say, ‘If God exists, why isn’t he acting?’ and we might wonder the same; but notice Jesus’ response to this temptation: ‘ … do not put the Lord your God to the test’. 

We can wonder why God seems silent at a time like this.  Yet the matter of trust, which this temptation concerns, goes far deeper than simply wanting to test God.  Jesus counters this potentially desolating temptation by saying that we simply need to trust.  We cannot know how the Divine Economy works, how God manages his household, and cannot know the deeper movements that might be going on at this time. 

For a generation wealthy, ‘modern’, First World nations have been spared the kind of conflicts and desperation which some other nations face.  We have thought that we are in complete charge, masters of our destiny, science has solved every problem.  Now we face vulnerability and are being exposed in ways that will reveal so much about both ourselves and the world we’ve created.  A world that is its own master – that doesn’t need God.  A world of competition rather than co-operation, which has seeped into our psyche.  A world which puts self first and looks for distractions to occupy time.  We’ve lived mindlessly rather than mindfully (recollectedly) and the depth of our hearts have ceased to be nurtured by being open to God.  Which leads on to the third temptation.

THE DEVIL took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world … and said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’.
Worship is often laughed at in the West; it’s what ‘religious’ people do with odd services in odd buildings.  Yet it’s clear we worship something all the time – to be human is to be a person who worships.  The great 19th cent. American thinker and writer, Ralph Waldo Emmerson, said:

‘A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will come out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behoves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping, we are becoming.’

To this temptation of the Devil, Jesus responds: ‘Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him”’ (Matt.4.10).  Any society which dismisses the worship of God, the highest Good, but happily adores celebrities or gives itself to the desire for this world’s goods, is in grave danger of being let down.  Of becoming disconnected with the one source of life which can draw us into the fullness of our humanity.  At times like this we need to reflect on what we have given ourselves to, what we worship.

We have the choice, now, of being more God-like, or simply continuing in the way we have lived before.  In the 19th cent. people suddenly woke up to the terrible social conditions in which many lived, many women (in particular) gave themselves to the service of those in need by consecrating their lives to God as Religious sisters nursing the sick, teaching and caring for those in need.  We may not feel the call to such a radical life, but we can wake up to the need to give ourselves to our ‘higher self’ and begin deepening our prayer so we learn heart-wisdom. We need prayer-practices which enable us to open the centre of who we are to God so we can become rooted in the Divine.

             

Holy Week and Easter – simple spirituality

The Lenten Fast prepares us for Holy Week when the depths of our humanity are laid bare. 

Serving with thanks and praise. We may not be able to attend a Eucharist but, more importantly, we can live eucharistically, sacrificially … stop … notice the world around … see something to wonder at … lift up your heart and give thanks to the Creator.  Offer a prayer and your love to God. This is what expresses the essence of the Divine within us – makes us more human. And love your neighbour as you serve them.

Good Friday proclaims the need, in the end, to abandon the centre of our being to God in faith and trust, recognising just how hard might be the future we face – for forty days or forty years.  But this is also a time which offers the opportunity to reflect on how we would like to be remembered when we die – momento mori.

Holy Saturday, when Christ descended into Hell, is a reminder that even in the depths of despair Christ is present. Loneliness can become alone-ness as we turn to Christ, present in the depths. Beneath any view that this is a ‘day of rest’ we need to realise the great work being done by Christ in the deepest parts of our humanity as we abandon ourselves to him.  That work is for our freedom – our liberation through the ‘waters of death’.  At times we’ll feel overwhelmed but, held by God, we can never be overcome and, at the last, will come to new life – resurrection life.  These times of trouble will be overpassed. 

‘For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song’ (Isaiah 51. 3).

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THIS ‘Lent’ offers a powerful opportunity to renew our faith. 
What do I live for?  How does Christ in the Desert speak to me? 

JESUS CHRIST, Son of God, have compassion on me, a sinner.

(Isaiah 51. 3).

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SOME RESOURCES can be found here:
Some Ways of Developing Prayer; Spiritual Communion; Online Worship; Prayer in Anxiety