The Gospel
is an invitation to ponder the situation that we are suffering under. The
prevailing philosophy for the Jews of Jesus’ time accepted a causal connexion
between sin and sickness. If you were sick, it is the result of sin. So, when
asked, Jesus did not entirely dispute the causal link between sin and sickness[1]
but instead invited the disciples to acknowledge the sovereignty of God. Through
this healing of the blind man, God will be glorified.
Sadly, the
healing had to be controversial as it took place on a Sabbath. Here, we can
immediately detect the catechetical undertone. We witness the slow process of
darkening on the part of the so-called glitterati of the time—the theologians
and scriptural scholars; those who have reason to pride themselves as knowledgeable
in matters of God. Whereas the one who was physically blind gained sight and slowly
but surely moved from sight to insight. He progressed into the light first
through the recognition of Jesus as a prophet and then acknowledgement by
worshipping Jesus as the Lord.
For our
elect, we hope that at this juncture of their faith journey they too are moving
like the man born blind towards the light of belief. For us, we pray that we
will be spared the blinkers of the Pharisees, a hardening of the heart that blinds
them to the glaringly available evidence. In other words, they can see and yet are
so sightless or clueless.
In the
current crisis of Covid-19, what is most glaring for us? What can it teach us? That
this disease is a sign that God is punishing us? Note the question mark. The saints
dare to make this connexion. St Bernadine of Siena said that pestilence or
plague, famine and wars are three indications of God’s chastisement.[2]
Today we shy away from such pronouncement. It does not fit into our beautiful
notion of a merciful God—the Responsorial Psalms say as much—the Lord is my
Shepherd. We have a God hopelessly in love with humanity. This God cares too
much for us that He suffers with us. So, in our pains and deaths, God is
suffering too. Indeed, misery seeks company!
Apparently,
a bishop tried to explain the provenance of the virus as nature’s aberration. If
you like, nature is like a stepmother to us. Thus, it should never be explained
as God’s punishment, never mind that the virus arose from creation which has
God as the author. In trying to excuse God as one who punishes, we end up not
with a merciful God but rather a God who is weak and does not dare to exact
justice. This image is definitely a poster child of a deistic god.
Furthermore,
our “ecological” bent has lulled us into subscribing a notion that nature is
pure and uncontaminated, whereas man is the polluter. We are shown pictures of
plastic swirling in the Pacific Ocean and no prize for guessing who the culprit
is: Man. On the one hand, the truth about nature is that it is more a
stepmother to us than it is a mother and therefore nature can be a source of
contamination for man. Try drinking natural water from an untreated source that
flows through rocks saturated with cadmium? Thus, on this point, the bishop was
right. But, on the other hand, the truth about Man is that he should have dominion
over nature as a steward. It is a dominance that allows us to live in this
world. Have you noticed that a place falls into ruin when it is abandoned? Nature
takes over. In its pristine state, nature can be unforgiving and hostile. The
point about this relationship between man and nature is that we have
stewardship and our duty, if we follow the Lord’s command, is to humanise
nature and not the other way around where we “comport” or naturalise ourselves
so that the earth can be our mother.
One thing
for sure is that punishment or not, like the man born blind, the healing was
God’s power manifested. If judgement is one of the last four things, perhaps we
should consider that God does punish us for our sins. The last time I checked,
sacred scripture supports this view. Man meets his justice, sometimes in this
world but definitely in heaven. However, cities or countries do not have heaven
as their goal. Where do they encounter justice? Think Jonah and the city of
Nineveh. God punishes cities or countries. Hence, the three chastisements of God
are plague, famines and wars; they represent God’s judgement this side of the
curtain of death.
Covid-19 is
showing us that there is a God. In other words, we have sinned. We are sinners
one and all. When Jonah preached repentance, even the animals sat in ashes. But
we, instead of turning to God, we turn to our globalised world—no less a modern
Babel. A Babel which promises the unity of a people without borders; a unity
which we can forge on our own. What is this but a form of blindness, a
darkening because this global village is a universalisation of production and consumption.
We produce in ever greater quantity in order to consume and we consume without
much care for creation. God is possibly saying to us, enough is enough. The
globalisation which destroys space and boundary has now by a virus defeated
through social distancing.
We are
looking for a healing for the world. But healing is not just a vaccine. It is
also salvific. This we can discern in the Latin word “salus”. It means both
health and also salvation. Thus, in our attempts to stay healthy, we should
also be concerned for our salvation. Instead of turning to God, we have placed
our faith solely in our ability to “conquer” nature (virus). We have forgotten
that sin does make for a sick society. Yes, we do want a merciful God without
justice but that is merely indulgence. The fact that Jesus did not dispute the
causal link between sin and sickness might give us pause to reflect that
perhaps there is conversion that we called to.
We are told
that social distancing is one of the ways to overcome the spread of the virus.
No one is told that perhaps conversion is also necessary. The 2nd
Reading asks us to live as children of light. What does that mean? Like the
elect walking into sight, does it also mean shaking off the sins that cling to
us? That being so, Covid-19, if it is not to be perceived as a punishment from
God, should be a reminder to us that we ought to turn to Him for we have
sinned. Enforced social distancing might seem like a prison of isolation but it
could also be a favour from God to enter into the open space of prayer and
conversion. It is an invitation to put out into the deep so that we can pray
and be converted. This grace is a true expression of our Lenten journey.
