Skip to main content

Faith in the face of the Coronavirus

With all honesty, let me admit, I am also afraid in the face of the outbreak of the Coronavirus and I am sure you are too. However, the situation we are in right now reminds me of the disciples who after the death of Jesus were filled with fear of the Jews who were out to kill them. They hid indoors just as some of us have isolated ourselves. While they faced an enormous threat from outside, the bigger problem lay inside each one of them and that was "fear".  But think for a second, why were they really fearful?

One of the reasons could be that they thought that Jesus had left them and they felt helpless, another could be that they were doubting if he was truly who he said he was and yet another could be they were fearful of death because most of them had denied Jesus and were living with guilt. This could explain why one of the first things Jesus did after he rose from the dead was to appear to them and say "Peace be with you". Have we also lost our peace in the face of this crisis?

What should we be doing?

In the Bible God tells us what we need to be doing in a situation like this. In 2 Chronicles 7 he says "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." So we know what we need to be doing, repenting and praying. How would this help you wonder?

Repenting: You were created to live forever, in the womb you were preparing for life on earth and on earth you prepare for eternal life either in heaven or in damnation. We will all die one day, but as Christians we know that death is not the end, so we must prepare ourselves to be worthy of standing in Christ's presence. A crisis is an opportunity to look within and introspect the quality of life we have lived. It's never too late to forgive those who hurt you or ask forgiveness from the ones you might have hurt and most importantly to get closer to God. During this season of lent grab the opportunity to make a confession so that you are not overburden by guilt like Judas, but you may experience the mercy of Jesus the way Peter did.

Prayer: We under estimate the power of prayer. We see the problem and panic, but in a situation like the one we now face, you realize there is only so little you can do and all that panic does nothing but makes you ill. The one thing you can do, is pray. Prayer not only changes the situation outside, it changes you. Pray till your fears turns to thanksgiving. Pray till you trust that God is greater than any obstacle. Pray for those suffering from the virus and for the authorities who are trying to curb the situation. Most importantly, pray as a family and reassure each other of God's presence in their lives and the hope we have in him.

I too, have been panicking since the past few weeks, however after some introspection, confession and prayer I feel more at Peace and that is my wish for you too. Let our prayer for each other increase tenfold so that our fears decrease. Now is the time to change your life, now is the time to turn to God.

God bless you and your family!
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 18, 2020 at 11:52 AM

    Absolutely Brilliant.... well written and Truly from the Heart after an introspection, confession and Reaching out to THE LORD IN PRAYER..
    An Eye Opener to all of us that There is nothing greater than The Grace of God upon Us.
    Thanks Karen .. Stay Blessed.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Turning point

Around 7 years ago, I questioned everything, including the existence of a God. I went to mass like a regular Catholic, but I didn't utter a word for that whole one hour. It was a routine, a reason to meet friends. I did pray occasionally when I needed something, but after a point of time I stopped doing even that because I found it pointless, not a single prayer was answered. Was there a God? Then came the darkness I hear whispers of my mother going for a checkup, I see on her face something is wrong, but I don't understand it. I push the thought away because just a few days later, my sister suddenly cries out in pain. She cannot breath, she is gasping and is rushed to the hospital at night. Her lungs were filling up with water and the doctors don't seem to know what to do with it. My parents ask me to stay with my sister in hospital one day because my mother had to go for a lung biopsy. I knew they were doing it to detect cancer but I didn't want to think '
10 comments
Read more

Tempting, Isn't it?

Oscar Wilde, once said "I can resist everything except temptation." However the Bible would disagree, "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1Corinthians 10:13) Temptations on their own are not the problem, it is only when we give into them that they lead us down the path of sin. On the contrary, resisting them actually makes us stronger and holier. The reason we fall into sin is because temptations appear in the disguise of something good. Greek mythology speaks of Sirens, which were dangerous monsters that used to sing sweet enchanting music to lure sailors on to rocky shores resulting in shipwrecks and death. In the same way even sin entered the world when Eve, decided to eat the forbidden fruit, which on its own seemed harmless and was probably tasty but in her doing so, she defied God, bringing destruction to herself and to the h
1 comment
Read more

Do we Catholics really eat the body of Christ?

I would be lying if I told you that I always believed in the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. In fact it was only recently, after much reading, it all began to come together for me. I had 4 questions to which I needed answers and here is what I found: Why did Jesus need to give us his body? In order to understand this, we need to go to the very beginning, to Genesis. It was in the garden of Eden that man's obedience to God was tested, Jesus was also in a garden when his obedience to God was tested, the garden of Gethsemane. Adam failed the test and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, Jesus chose the right tree, he chose the tree of life. The cross was also called the tree in the Bible, "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). Before sin, Adam walked with God in the garden and seen the face of God but after he sinned he hid from God's presence. Sin brought distance between God and man, it also brought death i
2 comments
Read more

Are statues in churches idolatrous?

Most people often accuse Catholics of idolatry by quoting Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." This verse is in the context of the first commandment 'I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me. Since the Israelites never seen God, they resorted to making images of created things and worshiped it as god which was prohibited then and still holds true for us today. However, does it mean that God prohibited the making of all statues? God himself ordered the making of statues Just 5 chapters after the prohibition on making idols, God orders the making of enormous gold cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark of the covenant in Exodus 25. The Ark of the covenant was revered by the whole of Israel and was considered most sacred. Hence it is clear that, God did not have an issue with all statues, but only
Post a Comment
Read more

Understanding the mass through the Prophet Isaiah

I have been going to church ever since I was a kid and it became more of a habit as I didn't really understand what was happening during the mass. I would stand when the congregation stood, sit when they sat, I wouldn't utter a single prayer, grumble when the sermon was too long and wait for the mass to end. However, it all changed after I read Isaiah 6 which describes the 'call of Isaiah'. When I first read the passage, it didn't really affect me, but standing there during mass, the verses just shot out at me. I began to realize that what Isaiah described in the Old Testament foreshadowed the Eucharist that we celebrate today. Going to church had a whole new meaning for me ever since... What should we look forward to at mass? Isaiah went to the Temple of Jerusalem in 742 BC where he saw a vision of God on a high throne and he felt the glory of God fill the temple. There he saw the Seraphim, meaning 'fiery beings' attending to the one on the throne
3 comments
Read more