And hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
As a junior in College Seminary, I was riveted to the 1969 techno-thriller by Michael Crichton, Andromeda Strain. The harrowing plot tells the story of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona. It was an unbelievable page-turner that was subsequently made into movie in 1971.
Sadly, science fiction has given way to reality as we presently find ourselves in the grip of a pandemic with the novel coronavirus that is rapidly spreading throughout the world. While its immediate impact in China and other parts of the Orient appears to be subsiding due to stringent quarantine measures and social distancing as well as universal testing, it’s impact in the West remain in many respects unknown. Public health officials warn that the replication of the virus has not peaked and undoubtedly millions will be infected with this new virus. Sadly, 2 to 3% of those contracting it, particularly the elderly and those with compromised health conditions, will die.
While we in the United States have blessedly been freed from such pandemics since the devastation of the 1918 “Spanish” flu pandemic that killed over 50,000,000 people worldwide and an estimated 675,000 Americans, the present moment has rightly gripped us with understandable terror and panic.
As Christians, we never face such moments alone. St. Paul reminds us that when one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer and when one part rejoices, we all rejoice. To be a Christian in the deepest and most profound sense is never to live our lives in lonely isolation but to realize that we are all bound together in the loving solidarity that truly enables us to call one another, brother or sister in Christ.
With that in mind, how providential that we should hear the comforting and encouraging words of St. Paul, spoken to the early Church in Rome, “hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts…”. For it is precisely in moments of ‘crisis’ that we are challenged to make ‘choices’ that either can build up the Body of Christ or contribute to the fear and terror that grips many of our sisters and brothers.
My friends, in this moment, more than ever, we are all called to be signs of hope to one another through the attitudes and actions we bring to this moment. While many in our communities are ransacking stores and hording goods, we have the opportunity of joining those who perhaps can bring food to those among us, the elderly and shut-ins, who fear venturing out into the public. While taking the necessary precautions to safeguard our own health, telephone calls and social media can be a way of maintaining our compassionate and loving solidarity with our family, neighbors and friends. We live in hope and are called to be signs of that hope to one another in this moment. It is through this hope made flesh that the good news can be experienced even when we are surrounded by the challenge of the daily news.