Essential?

Essential workers and essential businesses are familiar words these days. And we are learning that essential workers are people we may have overlooked before as vital to our life. Grocery store workers are now valued for their role in our food supply. The farmers who plant the food we need, the dairy farmers who supply our milk and those who pick our fruits and vegetables are recognized as essential workers though they may also be the lowest paid. We are now more aware of gratitude for postal workers and all who deliver our mail and packages. And our dependence on health care professionals reminds us that service to others could demand the sacrifice of our life.

Work, education and shopping will change because of Covid-19. Online learning, zoom meetings and working from home are just a few examples describing essential business, sharing and learning in our future.

Personally essential

But the word, essential, also invites us to a personal reflection. “What is essential for you, for me, for any adult believer who is searching for meaning during this time of COVID-19? There is no doubt that life has changed. Life may seem to be on hold. An essential response is to enter into this time willing to be silent. And in that silence let us recall that we dwell within the Presence of the Beloved. Centered in that Presence we ask “What is pleasing to God?” The immediate answer is you! You are pleasing to God.

In addition to the knowledge that you are pleasing to God is the realization that you are essential to God. The world needs God but God, who is Love, comes to most people through you. Like the doctors and nurses who take care of their patients, the care you show makes God’s compassion real. When you are grateful for those who provide food, remember how God feeds others through your caring phone call. As the letter or package delivered to you makes you happy, your smile spreads God’s joy into our world.

The message?

Through spiritual reflections or commentaries, video clips forwarded by email and faith-sharing comments we are hearing about the message to humanity. COVID-19 does have a message but let’s be careful when considering why this is a lesson from God.

Do you remember times as a child when the teasing and laughter seemed to have no boundaries? Do you remember your mother’s warning for some restraint because someone would end up crying? And invariably an emotional hurt or an accident would bring someone to tears. Is the mother at fault because her children did not listen?

How often have we heard the warnings about climate change? How many protests against war have we ignored? Do we not have, even now, leaders who refuse to listen to the warnings of the scientists? There are news stories about some whose greed and meanness continue to block the message of our interconnectedness. Is God to blame because so many are not listening?

Let’s consider another example. How often do children wander away or talk to strangers even though their mothers have warned them about the dangers? And when the child is missing or kidnapped, is the mother to blame? Our response is to hope and pray for the safe return of that child. Yet, even with the hoped for outcome, who would not admit that the child learned a difficult lesson?

Yes, there is an essential message from COVID-19. And it is the simple yet profound truth that we are one. Imagine what would change if believing that because we were created by the same God we are brothers and sisters? Wars could end if we recognized each other as siblings. Violence, selfishness, and greed would succumb to care and concern for the common good. Mercy and compassion would replace judgment and exclusion. Welcoming those who are different than we are, would eliminate hatred and prejudice. All people would be encouraged to share their unique gifts with the whole human family. Creation would be respected and cared for rather than dominated and destroyed.

Is this an impossible dream? Undoubtedly, because we humans are free to continue to be deaf to the pleas of God. The offer is ours to accept. Will we live together as beings created by Love, for Love? Or will we choose to return to the way we were? Let us hope that enough people will accept the essential need for connection and relationship.

 

NOTE: I was pleased to learn today that this blog was featured on the 100 Catholic Blogs list