Covid 19 pandemic that is troubling the world since almost one year, leads us to experiment the fragility of human nature, the limitations of the health care resources even in the most developed countries and the precariousness of our life. On the other hand, we are experiencing that it is transforming the world, not only with regard to cultural habits and our ways of meeting, but also in other dimensions of our life.
Coronavirus threatens our lives, puts in crisis our economy, reveals the bands of poverty that sometimes we cannot see and even less find out, brings us to live situations of vulnerability and leads us to think about the meaning of human life. In order to face these new and unpredictable situations we are striving to get new answers to our material and moral needs, inventing or discovering new forms of family and social subsistence and refining our sense of solidarity; furthermore, the experience of impotence frequently leads us to deepen into the spiritual and religious dimension of our life.
Through media and social networks, continuously circulates contradictory news about the virus and among them we mention the convenience or no convenience of measures imposed by governments to contain its spread, the possibility to get soon a vaccine that would contribute to contain the massive contagion and the alarming information about the number of infections and deaths. This avalanche of information creates tension, fear, doubts and also expectations of something that, from a scientific point of view, no one can guarantee. Loneliness, the loss of the own loved ones and the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, envelop in pain and suffering an increasing number of the world’s population that, frequently, lose hope and trust in institutions and that contributes to destabilize the social and moral equilibrium of the citizens.
On the other hand, we are witnesses of many initiatives of solidarity promoted by organizations and people working hard to alleviate pain and loneliness and to care the most fragile population. The commitment of those that work in direct contact with the sick people, exposing themselves to the risk of contagion as well as the joint effort of researchers who seek out efficient therapies to save lives and vaccines that may prevent contagion, are lights that illuminate the shadow and death in which we live. And we know also that, beyond these concrete testimonies, many people are discovering or rediscovering the light of faith and the experience of their fragility leads many people to look for something that exists beyond what is visible and to renew their contact with God. The high number of people that during the “lockdown” participated in the Eucharist through the medias as well the millions of people who, through television and social networks, followed on March 27th 2020 the prayer promoted by Pope Francis to ask God for the end of the pandemic, are a clear proof of that.
When darkness envelops the earth, when man lives the dramatic experience of pain and annihilation, when he experiences his greatest fragility, God comes out to meet him and, with discretion, he manifests his glory. That is the great mystery of redemption achieved for us in the Word made man to be part of the human history.
At the moment of creation, God broke the darkness of the initial chaos by creating light (Gen 1,2-3), the mysterious presence of God in a pillar of fire, led the Jews out of the darkness of their slavery (Ex 13,21-22) and the light of the Risen One forever enlightened humanity, awakening hope and faith in their hearts (Lc 24,13ff).
The experience of fragility that the world is undergoing is undoubtedly an experience of pain and death, but, as Paul says, in human weakness the strength of God is manifested (2Cor 12,9-10) and we really perceive that the Lord is discreetly present in our midst, through the goodness sprouting out during pandemic.
Franciscan and Amigonian charismatic sources relate several facts proving that weakness is a fertile ground for newness and life. Francis of Assisi, before taking a significant route change in his life, experienced a profound human failure when he suffered a military defeat and felt sick and Father Luis Amigó grew humanly and spiritually through the hard experiences of his parents’ death being he still very young, the social violence caused by the political situation and the epidemics.
The Word of God and history, teacher of life, tell us that is we assume our fragility and weakness with faith and trust in the Lord, they may open for us the way to a new creation; pain and death destroy but the heart of man, always thirsty for life, looks for what can regenerate it and faith, putting us in relationship with God and inserting us into his new and eternal life, is a light and a source of hope illuminating the darkness that surrounds us and sets in motion charity, that always renews goodness and life.
The same pandemic is transforming our lifestyles; it is breaking cultural patterns and habits that, perhaps, are not bad in themselves, but, perhaps, need to be reoriented and, at the same time, it leads us to rediscover the taste of simple things, the value and the importance of relationships and family life, the beauty of the encounter that at present we cannot have, the usefulness of the means of communication that enable us to continue working as well as many other things. All that could be the beginning of a new more human, relational and ecological life, and all that is very positive.
For the believer also, the pandemic is an experience of fear, disorientation, pain, death, fatigue, restless search out of what may help us to overcome this moment and sometimes he also fells in the indiscipline and refuses to apply the sanitary measures proposed and imposed by civil governments but, at the same time, the epidemic is an invitation to take the lamp of his faith in his hands, to keep it on pouring in it the oil of prayer that puts him in communion with God and intercedes for the world, to firmly hope that the Lord can do everything, to commit himself to others through acts of charity and to be obedient and collaborative with the civil and ecclesial authorities (Rm 13,1; Tit 3,1), following their directives and motivating others to do it. That is what Father Luis Amigó did, in similar circumstances (cf. CW 2192).
Fortitude springing from weakness and light breaking the darkness: when these two apparently opposing realities interweave, life is regenerated and the experience of the pandemic, even in the midst of the pain that continue affecting us, will transform into a profound renewal of personal and social life. Let man disregard not this opportunity and let him entrust to his Creator the re-creation that humanity needs nowadays.
Sr. Cecilia Pasquini TC