“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.”
All of us, at some point, have experienced what Noah and his family did when, after some traumatic experience in life or some incredible challenge, we sense a profound relief as we know that somehow, mysteriously, all will be well. While pessimists tend to see life as one depressing problem after another, for the optimist or, more precisely, for people of faith, life is a mystery to be lived and not a problem to be solved.
The sign for Noah and his family that ‘all would be well’ was the magnificent rainbow that marked the sky after 40 days and nights of rain that devastated the earth. It’s beautiful multicolor painted a silent promise across the cosmos that God was in charge and in his special covenant love for his people, no devastation how tragic or profound would ever have the last say in life. His love would forever conquer the darkness that would ever attempt to rob life of its vitality and goodness.
My friends, each year the Church sets before us the graced time of Lent as a reminder of that the original promise that love is indeed strong than death, that light is brighter than darkness, that hope conquers despair in the crucified and risen Savior, transcends time and is present with us in this moment of our life.
As we begin our Lenten journey with its penance not of our choosing – the great pandemic – may we never lose heart. All is in God’s loving hands whose ‘rainbow’ presence surrounds us in the love and care of family, friends and neighbors as a reminder that we face this moment, not alone, but with the hope of a community that is there to love us into a new beginning.