March 19, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – I've not lived much more than a quarter century, so I can only attest to the fact that the last decade seems as if society has been absolutely off the rocker. Many of our more seasoned readers may feel as though that's been the case for the last half century. And I would say they're probably right.
At a certain point with chaos, enough is enough. And like a deck of cards, all comes tumbling down. Just when it seems like a sick culture couldn't get any worse, another sickness sets in, and in the truest sense, society comes to a grinding halt. Life looks a little different now.
As Christians, we've long had to swim upstream and go against the tide. That is part of being a Christian after all. Some may feel that the current situation of a virus epidemic, though, is yet another persecution of sorts, another time in which we seem to have the short end of the stick, with public Masses being canceled and the spiritual nourishment of Our Lord’s body that we need in order to be faithful to him being stripped away from us.
For me personally, I've found myself this past week thinking to all the “would-have-beens.” Plans have ground to a halt even in the various apostolates of which I am a part – ways in which I had planned to serve God in the coming weeks and where I find my greatest joy. The rug seems to have been pulled out from under my feet. I've found myself thinking, “Why, God? All I was doing was to glorify You. It was in Your plan for me.”
But then I sense the tenderness of His Providence speak through my own preoccupations with my own plans, and He says, “No, this is part of My plan.”
A lover must never take for granted the Beloved. And I think that even as Christians who love the Lord, we can fall into that trap, too. We can become complacent thinking we are serving Him, when we're really serving ourselves. Our prayer lives can become stale and our service to others can become routine. Sometimes the Beloved must withdraw in order to test the love of the lover. That is what I have seen God do before, and in a sweeping, dramatic way, I believe He is calling us all back to our first Love right now. “Yet even now … return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
Our churches are closed, and, yes, it is a cross for many, myself included. I can see and hear the pain in the voices of our dear priests who so desire that their flock participate fully in the Holy Mass with them. But I truly believe that this is a necessary time. I am no farmer, but I do know that a fallow field is necessary for an abundant harvest in the season ahead.
Fellow Christians, I think this is our fallow time. But I have hope in Galatians 6:9: “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up.”
