Finding Solace in the Desert

“Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”Mark 4:40

When 2020 began, I made a list of twenty resolutions. Two of those were: “I will spend less time on social media and more time face-to-face with those that truly matter, and I will hug my loved ones more.” Little did I know that a tiny little bug that was already threatening China, would spread throughout the entire world and kick those two resolutions out the window. 

I have watched in disbelief how this thing has progressed in such a short amount of time. A month ago, I went to mass, and they told us to give each other peace without touching. The following week all church activities, except masses, were cancelled. One week later, all masses were cancelled, schools and universities were closed. Now, some churches are offering drive-thru confessions, imagine that.

The same thing has happened to small businesses. First, all restaurants closed except for take-out and delivery. Next came all non-essential businesses, like the beauty salon... who said that was non-essential? Pretty soon, we are all going to have to learn new skills to cut each other’s hairs and to apply color to hide those white hairs that have not stopped growing at lightning speed. 

And then came the madness. People started buying toilet paper in absurd quantities. I guess they were smart. Pretty soon we will need to start using plastic bags or paper plates because toilet paper has disappeared from every store. 

But if there is a silver lining to all this, is that this little “corona” bug has pushed us to stop and reflect. Yesterday, I watched Pope Francis give his special “Urbi et Orbi” blessing live from St. Peter’s Basilica. He said a few things that resonated with me: “We are all on the same boat.” For the first time in my life, the whole world is on the same boat. This bug has not discriminated. Every single country in the world has been affected. For the first time that I can remember, the entire world is united in prayer. Even though St. Peter’s Square was completely empty, thousands of people around the world were watching and we were all one body united in prayer.

“We have all gone ahead at breakneck speed, ignoring the wars, injustice, and cries of the poor and our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick,” said Pope Francis. Yes, we have turned our back on the poor and on our world. We have felt invincible and we have turned our backs on God. And now we are terrified. But Jesus asks us: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” And that is the problem right there, we have lost our faith. And where there is no faith, there is no hope.

“Really,” said Pope Francis, “it is Jesus calling out to us to be converted, calling us to faith.” Now that we have to stay home because the restaurants are closed, the malls are closed, the theaters are closed, the beauty salons are closed, and the sporting events have been cancelled, we have a choice to make. We can continue ignoring the needs of our world. We can replace those things that are closed with social media and television. We can continue living in our selfish little world, or we can stop to think what is Jesus asking of us.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this pandemic is happening during Lent. We are experiencing a different kind of Lent this year. Jesus has brought us to our knees and has taken us into the desert with Him. He is giving us this opportunity to stop our hurried lives and reflect on where we are headed. Like Pope Francis said: “Now is not the time of God’s judgment, but of our own: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not.”

God is asking us, in the midst of our desert, to look within and find meaning to our lives. He is asking us “to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering.” This pandemic will end, but what lessons will we take from this? Will we return to our previous meaningless lives or will we find a reason to make this world a better place?

“In the midst of isolation when we are suffering from a lack of tenderness and chances to meet up, and we experience the loss of so many things,” Pope Francis said, “let us once again listen to the proclamation that saves us: He is risen and is living by our side.” Let us find solace in Christ while we are walking through the desert. “Embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.”

Soon, I know that I will be able to hug my loved ones once again, and I will be able to spend more time face-to-face with those that truly matter. For now, I have to be content of seeing them through video chat or from the car. By the end of this quarantine, my hair may be totally white, but one thing I know for sure is that I will not be the same careless person that I was before this all began. And “I will not be afraid. Together with Peter, (I will) cast all (my)anxieties onto (the Lord), for (He) cares about us (cf. 1 Pet 5:7).”

Concluding his meditation, Pope Francis entrusted us all to the Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that our faith might not waiver in this time of crisis. “Jesus’ cross,” said Pope Francis, “is the anchor that has saved us, the rudder that has redeemed us, and our hope, because by His cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing and no one can separate us from His redeeming love.” It is only in God that we can find solace in the desert.

Copyright © 2020 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.