Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:4-5
4 "Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

These are the words that keep running through my mind during the current corona virus pandemic. For the first time that I know of, the entire world is focused on the same thing. We are unified in our concerns and reactions to the corona virus. We are unified in sickness and in death. We are all brought to our knees and the playing field is leveled; we are all in basic survival mode with pretentions and past differences set aside. No one is better or worse than anyone else, and no one is exempt. There is also a level of universal kindness in evidence that is quite remarkable - the valleys are indeed raised up and the hills are brought low. And while I am lonely, scared, and at times quite depressed about the situation, my complaints are insignificant in the face of what is going on because we are all in this together. Oh, I could complain, but the response would rightly be, "Take a ticket and get in line."

We are in the season of Lent, Passion Sunday today, to be specific. For the past five weeks we have been focused on the wilderness experience, Jesus' journey to the cross. Some of us gave up pleasures and abstained from familiar activities to join ourselves to Jesus' walk to the cross, not knowing that very shortly after Ash Wednesday we would all be plunged into an involuntary and even deeper level of sacrifice, including not even being able to attend Mass. While all of this is challenging and frightening - and this week and next are predicted to be the worst of the situation for the US, peaking during Holy Week, which also includes Passover, making this coming week doubly holy - I am more aware then usual of God's presence and his love- especially as manifested by our caring for one another other - something big is going on here! - and deep down, I know that we are going to be okay, that Easter morning - whatever the exact date - will come.

A blessed (and healthy) Holy Week to all.


Hosanna, Loud Hosanna!