During this difficult time of isolation — and, yes, even boredom — we have a unique opportunity to spend more time than usual in prayer and reflection. As we seek to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus for our physical health, we have the added opportunity to make this a time of special graces for our spiritual well-being.
As Christians, we believe “the word of God is living and effective” (Heb 4:12). Indeed this word is more than what is said or read, but essentially a person. We call this Word of God the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. In time, this Word took on a human nature and human flesh and lived on this earth as Jesus of Nazareth.
From ancient times, the church has constantly taught that the Word of God speaks to us in our own time and place just as surely as the Word spoke to the communities to which the Word was first proclaimed. Referring to this truth, Saint Ambrose said, in the fourth century, that we speak to God when we pray and we listen to him speak to us when we read the Sacred Scriptures.
Sometimes the way God accomplishes this is truly uncanny. A case in point is the experience Saint Augustine had as he anguished over taking the final step to seek baptism and enter the Catholic Church. He was basically afraid to leave behind once and for all the carnal pleasures of his youth. In the midst of this turmoil, he heard the voice of a child say to him, “Take and read. Take and read.” (Augustine, of course, heard the words in Latin: “Tolle lege. Tolle lege.”) This he understood as referring to a volume of Saint Paul’s epistles, which he had on a table nearby. And so he took it and opened it at random to Romans 13:13-14. There, to his astonishment, he read: “Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
The other day as I watched TV with all the doom and gloom about the coronavirus — and don’t you just
love the little square at the bottom right of the screen that simultaneously shows the stock market falling off the cliff? — I couldn’t take it anymore. So, overwhelmed with anxiety, I turned off the TV and tried to calm myself down with some of my favorite verses from Scripture (Jn 14:27; Phil 4:6-7). After a while, I opened up my Bible at random to Isaiah 30. In that chapter, God warned the people through the prophet not to make an alliance with Egypt in order to save themselves from the conquering Assyrians. As I read through the chapter, I had a kind of “mini-Augustinian-wow moment” at verse 15: “By waiting and by calm you shall be saved. In quiet and in trust your strength lies.” Just what I need to hear!
This verse has helped me cope with corona over the past several days. Maybe it will help you too. But whatever, keep your Bible close at hand, and remember God is longing to speak to you today in the words of the Sacred Page.
Father Edward Kolla is parochial vicar of Christ the Good Shepherd Parish, Vineland.
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