How to Trust the Outside World Again
5 Tips for Finding God Among the Coronavirus Crisis
This moment is unlike annihilation that about of usa have always experienced. The tally of sick and deceased mounts college every day. We plough on the news or await out our windows to see empty streets and darkened buildings. We are cut off from i some other, passing our days in varying degrees of isolation. Worries about our health, finances, and the future we had planned dominate our thoughts. Saints similar Ignatius of Loyola enjoin us to "find God in all things," however, in moments of crunch like the present, we may find ourselves wondering, "Where is God in all this?" It may experience to some that God is simply absent.
Although very few of united states of america has e'er experienced a state of affairs like this 1, generations before us have endured such trials and even greater than this. Their voices echo in our Christian tradition, offer united states wisdom that can help us find God amongst the electric current crisis. These pieces of wisdom are non "tips" in the sense of quick fixes. There is no quick fix for a global health crisis, nor for someone who has lost the sense of God'southward presence. What follows are rather invitations to be transformed in the awareness and way of being we bring to the present moment. Aught less will suffice.
#1: Exist on the lookout for the unexpected ways God might be working in the crunch.
So much of our fear and anxiety arises from reactive thinking. Nosotros obsess over the terrible things that could happen: What if I or my loved ones go sick? What if my business organisation goes under? What if the store runs out of toilet paper? Nosotros fixate on what nosotros have lost — our routines, our plans, freedom of movement, perhaps fifty-fifty our jobs. Imagining the good that might come out of our current situation comes less easily to u.s.a.. Yet, when nosotros look back through the history of God's dealings with humanity, nosotros run across that God has brought good along from evil fourth dimension and again. The crowning example is what the Christian tradition refers to as the felix culpa, the "happy fault." When human beings turned against their Creator and all should have been lost, God responded with an fifty-fifty more than costless act of generosity past uniting Godself to humanity in the Incarnation and thereby drawing humanity into the very life of the Trinity. Mindful of God's affinity for turning catastrophe into crusade for celebration, nosotros who find ourselves in the midst of a new catastrophe might take pause to ask ourselves, "What unforeseen good might God bring out of this mess?" or "What if in this moment God is inviting me to…?" I suggest some possibilities below, but I invite you to imagine your own. As Pope Francis highlighted in his recent "urbi et orbi" blessing, the Scriptures repeatedly assure us not to be afraid. We demand not be afraid because God does non desire our suffering but rather is constantly working to plough our suffering to joy.
#2: Welcome this moment as a time of Sabbath rest.
COVID-19 has disrupted the business concern of the world and forced billions of people worldwide to stride outside of their normal routines. For many, this means that life has slowed down considerably. That many of us experience this slowing down equally something uncomfortable should tell us something near how inhumane our lifestyles have go, how far we take strayed from God's vision for our lives. After creating human beings, God rested and commanded that human being beings, too, should rest on the seventh day. The implication seems to be that, if the Creator and Sustainer of the universe can afford to accept a mean solar day off to capeesh His work, it is rather foolhardy of mere mortals to presume that they cannot beget to do likewise. The Jewish people traditionally observed this fourth dimension of remainder not only once a week but also by refraining from agricultural activities and forgiving debts every seven years (the Sabbath twelvemonth). Jewish lore is total of stories of the astonishing fruit (spiritual and literal) born of this practice. Although a day of rest was once commonly observed in the U.s., today many of us care for information technology as just another day to go things done. This has been to our detriment. We act as if the salvation of the world depends upon u.s.a., and we behave the respective mental burden. Now a Sabbath of sorts is existence imposed upon us, who would non honor it of our own will. At present we have no pick simply to take the truth that the Sabbath is intended to ingrain within u.s.a. — our lives are non totally within our control. We cannot do information technology all. And then rather than lamenting the current disruptions and the barb confronting our presumed omnipotence, we might welcome the opportunity to rest and to live more than humanly equally long as this crisis persists… and perchance fifty-fifty beyond.
#3: Refocus on what is virtually important in life.
While the pandemic has brought additional stress and work hours upon many medical professionals and workers in essential industries, for many others much of life's daily activity — commuting to piece of work, attending meetings, running errands — has come up to an sharp stop. Over again, this may be a gift that we never would have given ourselves. Many of u.s. take been living like Jesus' friend Martha, who was overwhelmed by all the piece of work to be done. We have been so beholden to our to-do lists that we have lost sight of what is nigh of import. At present, however, in the midst of a global slowdown, we may finally be able to hear Jesus' words to Martha as something intended for the states: "y'all are worried and distracted by many things. At that place is need of only one thing" (Lk x:41). Jesus makes clear what is that "one necessary thing" earlier in the affiliate (Lk 10:27), but it is worth mulling over for ourselves what is most important in life and whether our daily living actually reflects those priorities. Nosotros might ask, "Have I chosen a life in which sending one more than email takes priority over tucking my child into bed at night or chosen a bigger paycheck at the expense of my physical and mental wellness?" Life will be changed after this crunch. That much is for sure. Whether or non it turns out to be a change for the meliorate is somewhat dependent on our ability to reevaluate our priorities, make decisions, and class habits in line with what matters most.
#4: Spend time with God in prayer.
The doors of retail stores are locked, tables at restaurants sit down empty, the lights of Broadway'south theaters have gone downwards–all because of the COVID crisis. Our world has grown quieter, and, similar inactivity, that quiet can exist unsettling for those of us who are accustomed to abiding noise. Although we may initially perceive information technology as a threat, this tranquility is an invitation. Blaise Pascal once wrote, "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." We focus our attention "out there" because we are afraid of against what is "in here." Even so the wisdom of the saints and mystics suggests that our efforts to notice fulfillment out in that location are doomed to fail. The secret it that we already possess within u.s.a. all that we need. We only practise not sit still enough or quiet enough to be able to recognize it. Now many of us observe ourselves prevented from engaging in our usual incessant activeness and deprived of many of our habitual diversions. What if, rather than filling the fourth dimension and silence with actress hours on Netflix, nosotros embraced the silence and endeavored to listen more intently to the Vox that has been calling to us from within all forth? And what if, in the moments when those afflictive thoughts mentioned above in #ane are growing louder and louder, we met those thoughts with silence or perhaps a simple prayer like "Come, Holy Spirit"? If the experience of people like Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, and Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan is whatsoever indication, nosotros would detect greater peace, joy, and gratitude in our days, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Should we follow their example and accept this invitation to prayer, nosotros might merely notice that when the earth is once again open to usa we are less dependent upon that outside world for our feelings of contentment and self-worth.
#5: Connect more deeply with the people in your life.
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of our current situation is the isolation many of us are indelible. The crowds that commonly surround united states in the function, on the train, and in coffee shops take now dispersed. We are unable to visit with friends and family. Even so there may be an opportunity even in this. If information technology is true that absence makes the centre grow fonder, then peradventure this time of separation will engender in us a greater appreciation for the people in our lives. And we need not wait passively for this catamenia of separation to take its result. We are blessed to alive in an age of unprecedented connectivity wherein we accept the technological capacity to meet and speak with people thousands of miles away. With fewer people and duties to make demands upon us, we have the liberty and the time to connect more securely with the people who mean the well-nigh to us. At the same fourth dimension, we take the opportunity to attain out (past telephone, Skype, handwritten letters) to those who are near in need and to be the face of God for those who are enduring the greatest suffering. For, in the words of Saint Augustine, "yous see the Trinity if you lot see love." This is our greatest human desire — to exist loved. The pandemic has disrupted many aspects of our lives, but it has not and cannot forestall the states from communicating dear to one another. It may actually be providing us the opportunity and the motivation to permit dearest abound all the more. What is certain above all else in this time when and then much is uncertain is that "nothing can separate u.s.a. from God'due south love" (Rom eight:38).
Patrick Manning, Ph.D.
Patrick R. Manning is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Chair of the Department of Pastoral Theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary Schoolhouse of Theology at Seton Hall University, and the author of Converting the Imagination: Teaching to Recover Jesus' Vision for Fullness of Life (forthcoming from Wipf & Stock). He researches in the areas of religious teaching, theological anthropology, and the interfacing of organized religion and culture and teaches courses on pastoral ministry building, catechesis, evangelization, Christian anthropology, secularism, and happiness. In general, his piece of work focuses on making sense of human beings and how nosotros can live life more abundantly together.
Categories: Faith and Service
Source: https://www.shu.edu/theology/news/five-tips-for-finding-god-amidst-the-coronavirus-crisis.cfm
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