The Works of God Made Visible through the Events of Life

In today's Gospel, John 9: 1-41, Jesus sees a man who was born blind from birth.  His disciples are stunned by this fact and ask Jesus: "'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.'"

We may wonder who sinned that the entire world is infested with the coronavirus. Perhaps Jesus' response to that question is the same as His response to His disciples: The pandemic of the coronavirus "is so that the works of God might be made visible through" this pandemic. God is at work through every human being tending to those who have contracted the disease and all who are taking measures to stop the spread of this disease. Good will come and is present in this evil that has affected the entire world. People all over the world have risen to the occasion in efforts to help those who have become ill. We are being transformed into better human beings, more conscious of the needs of others, of our own vulnerability and our dependence upon God as the result of this pandemic.  We are being brought to our knees in prayer, begging God to have mercy, to bring healing and protection to all.

God will never abandon us.  His Son Jesus became one of us to be in solidarity with us, to show us the Father's love and the way to the Father.  He was fully human and suffered all that we suffer, including being vulnerable to that which can destroy life and, in His case, fellow human beings jealous of and threatened by Him. In suffering death He destroyed death's power. Death had no power over Him. He rose from the dead and entered the glory of heaven through death's door. Death will have no power over us either, as it will also be the door through which we enter  eternal life, as Jesus did.  Is death easy? Of course not. It wasn't easy for Jesus either and, humanly speaking, a source of incredible grief for His mother and closest friends! He knows how devastating the coronavirus is on those dying of the virus and those losing loved ones to this virus. He suffers with all who are suffering. Our pain is His pain. Our grief is His grief. May we keep our eyes on Jesus and depend upon Him for help through this crisis.