I’m writing this reflection during the Easter Octave. The church just celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus from the Tomb. Yet, it was an Easter that none of us have ever witnessed before due to the pandemic of COVID-19. We’ve experienced a lot of suffering and have seen and known loved ones who have gone as a result of this horrible disease.
During the last couple of months during Lent, and leading up to Easter, I often wondered where God was in all this suffering. It’s hard to feel the presence of God when we see so much pain and suffering.
Our Lord knows and feels our pain. During the Easter Triduum, we see our Lord betrayed by one of his closest friends, Judas. This was followed by a cruel death on the cross on Good Friday. But all throughout this suffering of our Lord (both emotional and physical), He always turned to the Father for comfort and strength. In the Garden of Gethsemane, we hear Jesus pray to the Father, “…if you are willing, take this cup from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) It was while I was meditating upon Jesus in Gethsemane that I felt our Lord’s presence during this pandemic. God the Father is with us, and always will be with us, in all our sufferings. But we need to be able to pray and offer our sufferings to God and, with Jesus, say, “Your will be done.”
Our Lord accepted the suffering and death on the cross, offering it up to the Father for our sins. Then on Easter Sunday morning, He gloriously rose from the dead.
It is hard for us to understand why God allowed all this suffering and death to occur to us. But I feel we are called to take this pain and suffering and offer it back to God to grant us healing, and to bring us to a closer relationship with Him.
In the first letter of Peter, chapter 3, verse 15, we read “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” During this time of healing and recovery, let us always remember that Jesus is always with us to give us strength and healing. And let us also pray for those who have lost their lives as a result of this scourge: May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.
And I love the next verse which tells us always to be ready to share the reason for our hope & that we must do this with gentleness & respect.
ReplyDeleteWe need to trust that God is with us & that because JESUS CHRIST suffered & died to save us & rose from the dead He can take the bad things that happen to us & transform them into good. It is not enough for us to know this for ourselves but we must share the good news to others who need to discover it. And this is what you did in writing this blog post!