Today’s readings:
Baruch 1:15-22
Psalm 79:1-9
Luke 10:13-16
The pandemic of COVID-19 has been with us for one year and eight months, and there is no sign of it stopping. It will not stop, as long as the purpose of God is not fulfilled, which is to call the nations to repentance. When Jesus pronounced woe on Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Lk 10:13-16), he manifests that the call to repentance that is a part of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God brings with it a severe judgment for those who hear it and reject it.
And so we cry out, “How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous anger keep burning like fire?” (Ps 79:5). But at the same time, we do recognize that God is right to chastise the nations that do not recognize Him and who do evil. “Pour out your wrath on nations that do not recognize you, on kingdoms that do not call on your name” (Ps 79:6). As most of the peoples and nations of the world belong to such as these, then the whole world is chastised.
We need to confess our sin and the sins of the world. “We have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him. We have not listened to the voice of the Lord, our God, so as to follow the precepts the Lord set before us.” (Bar 1:17-18). “Even today evils cling to us” (Bar 1:20a). What are these evils, committed not just by pagans but also Christians?
We have murdered millions of the innocent unborn in the wombs of their mothers.
We have celebrated homosexuality.
We have assaulted marriage and the family through contraception and divorce.
We have overturned age-old teachings of Christ and our Church and exchanged them with modernist thought.
So “we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets he sent us, but each of us has followed the inclinations of our wicked hearts, served other gods, and done evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.” (Bar 1:21-22). There is great evil in the world today. Is God not just in sending chastisement? “To the Lord our God belongs justice” (Bar 1:15a). Is God not loving in wanting such chastisement to lead us to repentance?
So what is the way out for us? What is the way to end this pandemic? There is only one way, and that is repentance. We say to God, “Deliver us, pardon our sins for your name’s sake.” (Ps 79:9b). To be delivered, we need to repent and ask pardon for our sins.
We put our trust in Jesus our Savior. “Help us, God our savior, on account of the glory of your name.” (Ps 79:9a).
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