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Five Tips for Finding God Among the Coronavirus Crunch

This moment is dissimilar anything that about of usa have ever experienced. The tally of ill and deceased mounts college every day. Nosotros turn on the news or look out our windows to see empty streets and darkened buildings. We are cut off from one another, passing our days in varying degrees of isolation. Worries well-nigh our health, finances, and the future we had planned dominate our thoughts. Saints like Ignatius of Loyola enjoin united states to "find God in all things," however, in moments of crisis like the present, we may find ourselves wondering, "Where is God in all this?" It may feel to some that God is simply absent-minded.

Although very few of us has e'er experienced a situation similar this one, generations before us take endured such trials and fifty-fifty greater than this. Their voices echo in our Christian tradition, offering us wisdom that tin aid u.s.a. observe God amongst the electric current crunch. These pieces of wisdom are not "tips" in the sense of quick fixes. There is no quick fix for a global health crisis, nor for someone who has lost the sense of God'due south presence. What follows are rather invitations to be transformed in the awareness and way of being nosotros bring to the present moment. Nix less will suffice.

#1: Be on the lookout for the unexpected ways God might be working in the crisis.
Then much of our fear and anxiety arises from reactive thinking. We obsess over the terrible things that could happen: What if I or my loved ones get sick? What if my business goes under? What if the store runs out of toilet paper? We fixate on what we have lost — our routines, our plans, liberty of move, mayhap even our jobs. Imagining the proficient that might come out of our electric current state of affairs comes less easily to united states of america. Nonetheless, when we look back through the history of God'due south dealings with humanity, we see that God has brought expert along from evil time and over again. The crowning example is what the Christian tradition refers to equally the felix culpa, the "happy error." When human being beings turned confronting their Creator and all should have been lost, God responded with an fifty-fifty more than gratuitous act of generosity by uniting Godself to humanity in the Incarnation and thereby drawing humanity into the very life of the Trinity. Mindful of God'due south affinity for turning catastrophe into cause for celebration, we who notice ourselves in the midst of a new catastrophe might take break to inquire ourselves, "What unforeseen skillful might God bring out of this mess?" or "What if in this moment God is inviting me to…?" I suggest some possibilities below, but I invite you to imagine your own. As Pope Francis highlighted in his contempo "urbi et orbi" blessing, the Scriptures repeatedly assure the states not to be afraid. Nosotros need not be agape because God does not desire our suffering just rather is constantly working to turn our suffering to joy.

#ii: Welcome this moment equally a time of Sabbath rest.
COVID-19 has disrupted the business of the globe and forced billions of people worldwide to pace outside of their normal routines. For many, this means that life has slowed down considerably. That many of us experience this slowing down as something uncomfortable should tell united states of america something most how inhumane our lifestyles have go, how far we have strayed from God's vision for our lives. After creating man beings, God rested and commanded that man beings, too, should rest on the seventh 24-hour interval. The implication seems to exist that, if the Creator and Sustainer of the universe can afford to have a twenty-four hours off to appreciate His work, it is rather foolhardy of mere mortals to assume that they cannot afford to do besides. The Jewish people traditionally observed this time of remainder not but one time a calendar week but also by refraining from agricultural activities and forgiving debts every vii years (the Sabbath yr). Jewish lore is full of stories of the amazing fruit (spiritual and literal) born of this practice. Although a day of rest was in one case unremarkably observed in the Us, today many of us treat information technology as merely another day to become things done. This has been to our detriment. Nosotros act equally if the salvation of the world depends upon us, and we deport the respective mental burden. Now a Sabbath of sorts is being imposed upon united states, who would not honor it of our ain volition. Now we have no option but to accept the truth that the Sabbath is intended to ingrain within the states — our lives are not totally inside our command. We cannot do it all. And then rather than lamenting the current disruptions and the affront against our presumed omnipotence, we might welcome the opportunity to rest and to live more humanly every bit long equally this crisis persists… and maybe fifty-fifty beyond.

#3: Refocus on what is most of import in life.
While the pandemic has brought additional stress and piece of work hours upon many medical professionals and workers in essential industries, for many others much of life'south daily action — commuting to work, attention meetings, running errands — has come to an abrupt end. Again, this may exist a souvenir that we never would have given ourselves. Many of us take been living like Jesus' friend Martha, who was overwhelmed by all the work to be done. We accept been then beholden to our to-do lists that we have lost sight of what is about important. Now, however, in the midst of a global slowdown, nosotros may finally be able to hear Jesus' words to Martha every bit something intended for us: "you are worried and distracted past many things. There is demand of only one thing" (Lk 10:41). Jesus makes articulate what is that "one necessary thing" earlier in the chapter (Lk 10:27), but it is worth mulling over for ourselves what is well-nigh important in life and whether our daily living actually reflects those priorities. Nosotros might inquire, "Have I chosen a life in which sending one more electronic mail takes priority over tucking my child into bed at night or chosen a bigger paycheck at the expense of my physical and mental health?" Life will be changed after this crisis. That much is for sure. Whether or not information technology turns out to exist a change for the improve is somewhat dependent on our power to reevaluate our priorities, make decisions, and grade habits in line with what matters most.

#4: Spend time with God in prayer.
The doors of retail stores are locked, tables at restaurants sit empty, the lights of Broadway's theaters have gone down–all because of the COVID crisis. Our earth has grown quieter, and, like inactivity, that serenity can exist unsettling for those of us who are accustomed to abiding noise. Although we may initially perceive it as a threat, this quiet is an invitation. Blaise Pascal once wrote, "All of humanity'due south problems stem from man'due south inability to sit down quietly in a room solitary." We focus our attention "out in that location" because we are agape of against what is "in here." Still the wisdom of the saints and mystics suggests that our efforts to detect fulfillment out there are doomed to fail. The hugger-mugger information technology that nosotros already possess within united states of america all that nosotros demand. We but practice not sit however enough or repose enough to be able to recognize it. Now many of the states find ourselves prevented from engaging in our usual incessant activity and deprived of many of our habitual diversions. What if, rather than filling the time and silence with extra hours on Netflix, nosotros embraced the silence and endeavored to listen more attentively to the Vocalism that has been calling to united states from within all forth? And what if, in the moments when those afflictive thoughts mentioned above in #1 are growing louder and louder, we met those thoughts with silence or perhaps a unproblematic prayer like "Come, Holy Spirit"? If the experience of people similar Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, and Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan is whatever indication, we would discover greater peace, joy, and gratitude in our days, even in the most hard of circumstances. Should nosotros follow their example and accept this invitation to prayer, we might just discover that when the world is again open to us nosotros are less dependent upon that exterior earth for our feelings of contentment and self-worth.

#5: Connect more than deeply with the people in your life.
Perchance the almost hard aspect of our current situation is the isolation many of usa are enduring. The crowds that commonly surroundings us in the office, on the train, and in coffee shops have now dispersed. We are unable to visit with friends and family. Yet at that place may exist an opportunity even in this. If it is truthful that absence makes the heart abound fonder, then perhaps this time of separation will engender in united states of america a greater appreciation for the people in our lives. And we demand not expect passively for this period of separation to take its effect. Nosotros are blessed to live in an age of unprecedented connectivity wherein we have the technological capacity to see and speak with people thousands of miles away. With fewer people and duties to make demands upon us, we have the freedom and the fourth dimension to connect more deeply with the people who hateful the well-nigh to us. At the same time, we have the opportunity to reach out (past phone, Skype, handwritten letters) to those who are nigh in need and to be the face up of God for those who are enduring the greatest suffering. For, in the words of Saint Augustine, "you come across the Trinity if you run across dearest." This is our greatest human desire — to be loved. The pandemic has disrupted many aspects of our lives, just it has not and cannot preclude united states of america from communicating love to i some other. Information technology may actually be providing united states of america the opportunity and the motivation to let beloved grow all the more than. What is certain above all else in this time when then much is uncertain is that "nothing tin separate us from God's dear" (Rom 8:38).

Patrick Manning, Ph.D.

Patrick R. Manning is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Chair of the Section of Pastoral Theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary Schoolhouse of Theology at Seton Hall University, and the author of Converting the Imagination: Teaching to Recover Jesus' Vision for Fullness of Life (forthcoming from Wipf & Stock). He researches in the areas of religious educational activity, theological anthropology, and the interfacing of faith and civilization and teaches courses on pastoral ministry, catechesis, evangelization, Christian anthropology, secularism, and happiness. In general, his work focuses on making sense of human being beings and how nosotros can live life more abundantly together.

Categories: Faith and Service

Source: https://www.shu.edu/theology/news/five-tips-for-finding-god-amidst-the-coronavirus-crisis.cfm

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