Emerging from the Pandemic Together

Dear Friends,

Let’s pause in our exploration of the weekend liturgical readings to think once more about ways to emerge in a healthy spiritual way from the COVID pandemic. News outlets tell us that people are gathering for fun in large numbers wherever they can, consumer spending is up and regrettably, we also see people turning on one another in violence.

To go forward in ways that benefit our neighbor as well as our world and ourselves, we need to discover new aspects of God-in-our-midst, to listen to the voice of God beckoning us to create a new world. 

Spend time this week reading, re-reading, and thinking about the appearance of God to Elijah at Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19.11-12). God was not in the earthquake, nor in the strong wind nor in the fire. God was in the gentle breeze that touched Elijah as he stood at the mouth of his cave.

God is in the gentle wind that has touched us throughout the pandemic isolation. Whether that has been a time of reflection for us or not, today can be that time. What was God telling us, prompting us to reconsider during our isolation? People like Juliana of Norwich and the desert fathers chose isolation in order to think and grow and pray. People like Nelson Mandela used his 27-year prison term to become the man who would lead his people.

“Every situation can be used as a time of conversion and training for a different world which is possible,” Robert Ellsberg told his listeners on retreat last week.

One of the slogans that we hear today encourages us to get back to normal. But a healthy normal will not be a repetition of what was before the pandemic. We become better when we envision another alternative. Pope Francis has reminded us that, “We never come out of any crisis using the same mind set we had before the crisis.” So, what will it take to find a new normal?

Certainly, the work of our minds and hands, but also the work of our prayer and imagination – the reassessment of our values and the good of the community. It will take joining others who are likeminded and willing to work together, to cease grasping stuff and choosing less as more.

Jeff Bezos just came back safely from a few moments in space with his companions. Together, they were aboard the “New Shepherd.” Yes, we need new shepherds to lead us where we never thought we could go, humanly speaking. But we also need to spend time with our God-Shepherd who taught us to value the true, the lasting, the holy and the life-giving.

What is that for you? For me? What we become, whom we love and welcome into our world, has global consequences. We have seen that we do not overcome COVID-19 alone. We need one another. We have also seen how people have devised ways of sharing that have been innovative, community-building and encouraging. Standing before our cave, listening to God in the gentle breeze, what do we hear?

~Sister Joan Sobala