Lockdown, Community Quarantine, Social Distancing. These have become the buzz words after a spike in the number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus similar to 2003’s SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). In just four months, COVID-19 has become a full-blown pandemic, spreading to more than 200 countries with more than 3 million confirmed cases and about 200,000 deaths. Not since the 1918 influenza pandemic has the world experienced such a global health emergency.
We recall the sentiments of Gandalf the Grey and Froddo in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Froddo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
People may not see any meaning in this modern-day plague but even in the dark moments in history, God has a message for humanity. Pope Francis shared this message with us in his homily during the Extraordinary Moment of Prayer preceding the Urbi et Orbi Blessing last March 28, 2020: “You are calling us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not a judgment from God but a time for us to judge… to choose what matters and what passes away… to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.”
