THIS Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. Let’s keep imploring God’s Mercy to end this coronavirus pandemic so that businesses, governments, schools, and churches can open. We’re all eagerly waiting to go back to our normal lives.
These past five weeks of staying at home and social distancing have been painful and challenging. We learned many lessons, such as the importance of family, health, and collaboration with the local government.
For our spiritual and emotional well-being, I suggest that we practice the following virtues:
1. PATIENCE. We must be patient in suffering. It’s the only way that we can persevere and endure in our affliction. Christ patiently carried that cross. We, too, can patiently bear these weeks of isolation.
2. ACCEPTANCE. We have to accept this reality. There is no denial anymore that this virus has created havoc in our lives. As we often say, it is for what it is, so we must wrestle with it. Accept it as a test of our time in this generation. Accept it with the hope that it’s not the end of the world yet. Accept it and deal with it.
3. SOLIDARITY. We know that we are not alone in this suffering. We’re dealing with it together not only in this country but all over the world. And so we need the support of one another. As Simon of Cyrene helped carry the cross of Jesus, we, too, need help to carry each other’s cross.
4. CHARITY. The best way to get out of our misery is to be charitable, to help those in need. We also need to be generous with one another at home. As Jesus was dying on the cross, he showed the best example of charity: forgiving the repentant thief.
5. UNDERSTANDING. Understanding brings compassion, empathy, and kindness. On the cross, Jesus understood the feeling of the grief of his mother and his beloved disciple. On the cross, he cried out, “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.
6. ABANDONMENT. When all seems to fail, we need to abandon ourselves to God. We’ve got to let go of control. We have to surrender to God, to his will. That’s what Jesus did. When he said, “It is finished.” It means that he surrendered to his Father’s will.
If you notice, when you put the beginning of these words, you’ll come up with the word PASCUA, meaning Easter!
Let’s practice these virtues amid our anxiety, fears, and pain so that we can come to an experience of Easter!
Have a prayerful Divine Mercy Sunday!
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California.
