Coronavirus is on everyone’s mind.

It is now affecting, in some way or other, the lives of every man, woman, and child on our planet. We cannot pray it away because it is an act of God that could not reasonably have been predicted or prevented. We can pray, however, to handle this crisis correctly. We are all in this struggle together and, with hope and sacrifice, we will learn from it and come through it changed for the best, hopefully.

Following is a reflection by Sarah Burns of New York City who, in spite of living through the worst of this awful pandemic, still found reason to hope.

Corona is exposing us.
Exposing our weak sides.
Exposing our dark sides.
Exposing what normally lays far beneath the surface of our souls,
hidden by the invisible masks we wear but now
Exposed by the paper masks we can’t hide far enough behind.

Corona is exposing our addiction to comfort,
Our obsession with control,
Our compulsion to hoard,
Our protection of self.

Corona is peeling back our layers,
Tearing down our walls,
Revealing our illusions,
Leveling our best-laid plans.

Corona is exposing the gods we worship:
Our health,
Our hurried pace,
Our sense of security,
Our favorite lies,
Our secret lusts,
Our misplaced trust.

Corona is calling everything into question:
What is the church without a building?
What is my worth without an income?
How do we plan without certainty?
How do we love without taking risk?

Corona is exposing me.
My mindless numbing,
My endless scrolling,
My careless words,
My fragile nerves.

We’ve all been exposed.
Our junk laid bare,
Our fears made known,
The band-aid torn,
The masquerade done.

So what now? What’s left?
Clean hands!
Clear eyes!
Tender hearts!

What Corona reveals, God can Heal.

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Gospel of Matthew 11 : 28