In his most recent book called “Let Us Dream”
Pope Francis reflects on the COVID crises and
he offers some deep reflections as teacher and leader of so many people.
He goes into explaining how he personally experienced some of
what he called “COVID experiences;”
what he calls “crises” in his own life.
The premise of the book is that all crises,
like the COVID crisis and any other personal or global crisis,
that we may ever experience changes us.
We will never be the same.
We will change for the better; or we will change for the worse.
But we will never be the same.
Now obviously his call to change is to change for the better.
For him, the change for the worse
would be to remain the same in any way, shape or form.
He thinks and believes wholeheartedly
that this is a global opportunity for us to dig deep
and to come out of this COVID crisis as a renewed people of the earth.
In his reflection on his own three personal COVID moments,
it was quite personal and deeply touching.
The first one was when he was a young man
and he had half his lung removed.
He almost died himself and so he can relate to
those gasping for air who have COVID disease.
He himself has a weakened condition
and only survived through the kindness of a nurse and nun
that fought for his recovery with their medical intervention.
That nun and nurse changed his life forever.
The second experience was one he calls “dislocation”
when he moved as a young seminarian back to Germany to learn German. He calls this a “COVID of Dislocation.”
He was alone and isolated.
And he dug deep into his personal prayer life
where he had this deep experience of God
in his isolation and loneliness and he had experiences of nature.
The third one was when he was in Cordoba, Argentina
where he had been exiled by his Jesuit brothers
because he had been so harsh as a superior.
He spent 18 months in Cordoba and
in that time of isolation and really shelter-in-place for him
because he never left the house except to get groceries and return back.
He just submersed himself in the grace of God.
All three moments, what he calls “COVID Moments,”
brought him to a crisis that had an opportunity for him
to change for the good or for the worse.
By the grace of God, each one of these were moments
of good change for him
and ones in which he had to remain vigilant
because one can always go back to one’s own old sins at any time.
As a leader of the worldwide Church,
being an authoritarian leader and being dominating.
All of this was to say that it is a challenge for all of us
in these COVID times to see each of us experiencing
this as an opportunity to see light in the midst of darkness.
Think of John the Baptist as testifying to the light;
that God’s light, God’s grace can draw us out into a new way of being.
All of us probably have had personal COVID moments
in our life before this recent crisis;
some losses that have challenged us to respond.
Maybe not all of them have turned out for the good or for the better for us
but we know what potential they have to change us.
The Pope’s challenge for us and it comes not just from today’s readings
but from this Sunday of Advent as
we prepare the way of the Lord in our own hearts,
we must seize this opportunity of these COVID times.
We look again at what is happening
and I have been talking about this ever since I got here
that we have had these losses and
this is our time to pause and reflect more deeply.
To seize this opportunity as a Church to be different in the world.
But we cannot do that as a Church
unless we do it as individuals and seize this moment
and to let God’s light shine in the midst of this darkness;
to show us something different;
to show us a new way of being.
Pope Francis in his book goes on to shine the light
really on so many wonderful moments that have happened.
He asks,
“Have there been moments when we have seen the darkness?
He says yes!
We realize in this pandemic
that there are weaknesses in our economic system
that allows for such disparity;
and in our health care systems;
in our social systems in general.
There are definitely things we want to address
and come back to them different;
come back very different from where we were.
He also highlights how this has highlighted
some wonderful things that we have needed to “rediscover:”
the amount of extra time we have with family.
He says years ago, we all had that time with family
but now we are in a sense forced to spend more time
and families are playing games that they have never played before.
They are watching movies together.
They are laughing.
They are dining every night together.
They are talking and they are loving one another
even more than they ever have before.
And are there moments of weakness and extra abuse going on? Yes.
But the preponderance of extra love that is going on
in the family is extraordinary in these moments;
caring for one another
across family lines and inside families and communities.
The need for community has become self-evident to all of us.
Pope Francis talks about highlighting the essential workers
who are essential today but for years
we never considered them essential:
The grocery worker;
the delivery of our food to our doors;
the teachers in the classroom;
the doctors and the nurses;
and so many others that were considered
what he calls “hidden workers” we didn’t even see them;
the people who produce our food and bring it to us;
the pipeline of people.
They have always been important but now thanks to COVID
we can see how essential they really to us.
He was so touched by this reflection himself
that he has declared a universal year of St. Joseph the Worker
from December 8th of this year to December 8th of next year
to highlight all the hidden workers in the world.
St. Joseph was a hidden figure in the scriptures.
And Pope Francis is highlighting St. Joseph the Worker
because he was the foster father of Jesus
who cared for him as a hidden figure;
and that there are so many hidden figures in our lives today.
All of this is to make ready the way of the Lord;
and to shine a light in the middle of our darkness;
and yes, it is hard that we cannot be together in church
but what a great blessing it is to have our online programs;
to be able to have music and sound;
and to be able to reach one another;
to be able to get on the phone to Zoom;
or skype or whatever it is.
And to reach out to one another; to care for one another.
These are graces and even more
so to be able to spend all this extra time with family.
Let’s not just waste the time.
Let’s be much more deliberate about
making ready the way of the Lord in our heart.
And in the midst of the darkness,
let God’s bright light of grace shine
through so that this COVID moment for us
starts to make us better people;
that we will come out of this as better individuals;
better families;
better communities
and a better world.
It is our choice to cooperate with the light of God’s grace.
It is our choice to allow this COVID crises
and God’s grace to be a change for the better.
Make ready the way of the Lord and
let his light shine in the darkness.
