In the Creation account in Genesis we read how, at the end of each day, God looked at what He had made and saw that it was good. In other words, He made nothing bad, and neither was there any imperfection in His work. Only when Adam and Eve abused the freedom which God had given them did sickness, suffering and death became a part of human experience.
Sickness and death, then, were never a part of God’s original intention for the human race. They are the consequence of sin, although we have to be scrupulously careful in how we apply this truth: when we see someone suffering from illness, we are not allowed to assume that that person is sick because he sinned. Many innocent people suffer – young children who have never sinned, and some of the greatest saints, have endured terrible sufferings. If Adam and Eve had never sinned, however, there would be no suffering, and so there is an undeniable connection between suffering and sin.
Just as God created nothing bad, so He can never will anything evil. He may, however, allow something evil to happen in order that some good may prevail. In times of plague and other natural disaster, Christians naturally ask why God allowed this to happen. The answer is always the same: God is calling fallen man to his senses. He is reminding us that we are not as in control as we might like to think, and that our illusions of progress and self-sufficiency will all crumble into the dust if we take our eyes off Him.
Throughout history, the response of the Church to pestilence has always included the call to repentance and penance. During Lent, Her liturgy reminds us of the Ninevites who responded to Jonah’s preaching with conversion from their wickedness and a solemn fast, and so were spared from the sentence of destruction which God had proclaimed over them. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham could not even muster a handful of just men to stand before God, did not fare so well. The message of Holy Scripture is consistent, however, and should fill us with hope: God desires not the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted from his ways and live (Ezekiel 33.11).
When it became clear that the scourge of Coronavirus had reached these shores, a journalist telephoned the Oratory to ask what precautions we were taking. The obvious answer was that we were preaching the urgent necessity to make a thorough examination of conscience, to go to Confession and receive sacramental absolution for sins, and to make as sure as we are able that we are all in a state of grace. Of course, we were also taking the necessary practical precautions to minimise the dangers of facilitating contagion. But the first instinct of a Catholic when danger looms will always be to consider the condition of his immortal soul, and the spiritual as well as the physical well-being of his loved ones.
At the end of the day, masks, sanitising hand-gel, and even our attempts at self-isolation, are far from fail-safe against infection from an invisible disease. We do, however, have an invincible remedy against the even more insidious malaise of sin, in the Sacrament of Penance. If we have spiritually died, by mortal sin, Confession even has the power to raise us from the dead. Once in a state of grace we are in a position to make reparation, through our prayers, fasting and almsgiving, both for our own personal sins and for those sins which “cry to Heaven” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1867), and which have become institutionalised in our society.
The policy of social-distancing which is the justification for closing our churches is a concept which seems quite alien to us as Catholics. The sacramental life of the Church is something which, by its very nature, requires physical proximity. It is around the Altar at Sunday Mass that the Church on earth takes on Her most visible and tangible form as a united whole in which priest and faithful are incorporated in a single living organism, enlivened by Christ Who is the Head of His Mystical Body. The normal response of the Church in the face of approaching disaster is for us to gather our forces and make manifestations of our faith and trust in a God Who listens to and answers the prayers of His children. If extraordinary circumstances currently impede solemn Masses of reparation and processions and we are confined to barracks, then it is imperative that we fight this battle from home. Our Lenten observances of fasting and almsgiving are a powerful means we have of boosting the value of our prayers before the Throne of Grace.
While our doors, regrettably, remain locked for the time being, the Oratory resembles a humming bee-hive of activity in the early mornings, as the fathers quietly offer the Mass privately in the various chapels around the church. Please unite yourselves with the Holy Sacrifice that is being offered spiritually, in the knowledge that we are carrying your needs and intentions with us to the altars in our hearts.
The most worrying aspect of the current lock-down scenario for priests is the obstacles that we are likely to encounter in ministering to those who are sick and dying. If you are taken into hospital, please emphasise that you are Catholic and desire the ministrations of a Catholic priest. At these times when access to Sacramental Confession and Extreme Unction cannot be taken for granted, we should all memorise the Act of Perfect Contrition, or carry it with us. With gatherings for Baptisms suspended, parents should note that in an emergency anyone (Christian or not) may validly and licitly administer the Sacrament of Baptism if he makes an intention to do what the Church intends and uses the proper formula as he pours the water (please see our website for more detailed instructions on the Act of Perfect Contrition and emergency Baptism).
During this Lent, when the sacrifices that we must make are unusually stringent, let us conquer fear with faith as we fix our eyes on Easter, in the firm conviction that the Resurrection has the last word over sickness and death. In our Baptism we received the vocation to keep on dying to ourselves so that the life of the Resurrection might come to full and perfect fruition within us. For many of us, this Lent gives us more opportunity to live this vocation than usual. Be assured that we are praying daily for your wellbeing, spiritual and bodily.
Father Julian Large