Good and loving parents know what their children need most and when the time is best to give it. We as Catholics know there is no such thing as coincidence. We rather believe in Divine Providence. Divine Providence is God’s loving design and purpose for all creation. Everything that is, has a purpose or an end to which it tends to go and is under the providential care of God. Nothing happens in this world that God doesn’t know or allow or will to happen. When confronted with evil, like the coroner virus, where does that fit into Divine Providence?
What Saint Thomas Aquinas says is God permits certain defects in nature, so that a greater good can come from the evil. God doesn’t want or will evil things to happen, but He allows it so as something greater can take place. A parent doesn’t want their toddler to fall and get hurt, yet he know the little one has to fall so as to walk. As far as the evil brought on by humans, God respects and allows the personal freedom. We are not puppets on a string. Every parent who has or had a teenager knows about giving freedom to their child, and the joy and sorrow it causes.So looking at our present state of affairs with the coronavirus, perhaps God is showing what is best for us at this particular time in our Church and society.
Maybe we as a world need to slow-down, even to stop the frenetic, crazy, and whirlwind of our existence. We are all running, but to what purpose, to what end? Maybe God is telling us to regroup, to retreat and to see what is really important in this life and world: prayer, family life, silence, health, imagination, play, simple joys, and pleasures. We need to slow down and re-appreciate those we love. It is good to see once again, families out together, or parents and children doing things together, playing catch, kicking the ball-(6 ft apart at least), kids riding their bikes, couples walking together laughing, people visiting the Church throughout the day.
I was talking with a mom who told me she has two children, ages 19 and 16. Being teenagers, they were never home, always running around to school, sports, and the other 10,000 things kids do today. Now, since they can’t go out, they have dinner every night as a family, they play cards, board games, watch TV shows together, talk about life. Then the Mom was proud to say, they are fun to be with and have great little personalities. She said it as a surprise to her.
The other aspect of this new family-life-together is we appreciate one another and other people. The first group I think we appreciate much more are teachers, and what they do for 6 hours a day, 180 days a year. If you have little ones, certainly by now, only one week in as you are teaching them, (then imagine 25 of them in your house at one time), how you admire good teachers? I don’t think anyone will ever say again teachers don’t deserve the summer off!! Hang in there! Thank God for the internet.
Seriously, God has given us time in this holy season of Lent, this time of quarantine to look at our life. We all have more time; time to be with the ones we love especially with God. We have the time to experience silence to talk to God and to listen to Him. So, take a walk in the afternoon to Church, our Church is open from 7 AM-7 PM daily, visit the Lord in His House, appreciate the silence and beauty of our Church. Sit and talk, sit and listen to the voice of our Lord. Be grateful for this time, use it wisely; we may never have this opportunity again in our lifetime.
And say a special prayer our fellow parishioners who have the virus; some of them are in critical condition in our hospitals. Keep them and their families in your prayers. Families are not allowed to be with their loved ones in the hospitals or nursing homes which makes it even more difficult. Pray for the doctors and nurses and all the health care workers, for their safety, for their families as well.
We are going to live-stream our Holy Week Masses and services. You can view it on our webpage:
smparish.com. More information will be sent to you this week (if we have your email). If you wish to receive messages from the parish, please sign-upwith Flocknotes on our home page, on the website.
Know of Fr. Clarke and my prayers in daily Mass for you and your loved ones. Remember, God is with us and the words of our Lord,
“Fear is useless, what is needed is faith.” (St. Mark 5:36).