Viral Retreat

At a time when many of our normal activities have been shut down, or have been modified due to the need for “social distancing,” we might be asking if things will ever “get back to normal,” or how soon they will do so. Maybe we should be asking another question: “How can I turn this time into something positive?”

Now, I’m not saying that a worldwide pandemic, or the possibility of millions of people dying is a good thing — though we know that God can take any evil, and can turn it to some good — maybe a good that we won’t be able to comprehend (this side of heaven), but some good nonetheless. I’d like to reflect with you on how you and I, private persons and followers of Jesus Christ, can find some “good” in a dangerous and uncomfortable time.

We modern men and women have come to view almost everything in economic terms: maybe this is a time for us to reflect more deeply on the importance of human relationships — how do we value our families, our friends, our neighbors, our (to use a favorite term of my late brother) “fellow humans of earth.” Can we find ways to reach out and support our fellow humans during this difficult time? “Social distancing” should not mean that we act as if we don’t care about the good of our neighbors.

At this point in time, Masses and public gatherings have been suspended, or largely curtailed: maybe this is a good time for us to reflect on how important Divine Worship is to us — have we taken Holy Mass for granted? Have we become nonchalant about the gift of Christ Himself in the Holy Eucharist? We can use this time to “dive deeper” into our Catholic Faith — to read Sacred Scripture, especially as “Lectio Divina”; to meditate on the Life of Our Lord in the mysteries of the Holy Rosary; to pray along with televised and online Masses, and to make Spiritual Communions, begging for the grace to be able to receive Our Blessed Lord again soon, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist.

Good time and bad times are largely what we make of them — will we seek to find the “silver lining” in this time of the COVID-19 virus? Will we use this opportunity to “retreat” from all the things that have so often distracted us from Christ Jesus, and refocus on Him, and on all those things that matter more than the passing things of this world? The choice is ours to make — choose wisely!