In the age of Covid-19, I see a revelation or drastic unveiling of the real Christians from the fake Christians. I hear regular church-going Catholics saying they are fine without Mass and that the Church is not made of brick and mortar, or here’s a very popular meme going around that says something to the effect of “the true body of Christ is not a building.” Some evangelical Christians are going so far as to say that this is a time for deep spiritual renewal. This to me is the greatest offense of them all. Any well-catechised Catholic understands that true spiritual renewal can only really happen through the gift of the Sacraments as outwards signs of God's grace, namely holy Eucharist and Reconciliation, both of which are being denied to the faithful at present.
It’s true that there is no time like the present for spiritual renewal but calling a pandemic a divine gift to renew ourselves is just outrageous. Covid-19 is merely and very simply just that-a pandemic-and although God can draw good from any evil, if good is going to come out of this it will not be a spiritual renewal of the Church.
On the contrary, it will be quite the opposite: churches will close, many Catholics will not be coming back, and if your church lacked life and vitality before this crisis it will be even more dry and barren when we all come out of this. Don’t expect Catholics who did not believe in the real presence before to suddenly believe now or for Catholics who never received the sacrament of Penance regularly to suddenly go. They won’t. Recall the Parable of the Sower: Matthew 13: 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
The Seasons of Lent and Easter have also been disrupted. True devotion to the passion of Jesus in His darkest hour and the power of His resurrection will go even more unnoticed than before. The reality is only the Catholics who’ve consistently adored Jesus as our Paschal Lamb will consistently adore Him after all this is over. Matthew 13: 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
When I had to watch Mass on tv this past Sunday, when it came time for communion, I ran to the crucifix in my living room kissing the feet of Jesus crying. I couldn’t help it and quickly recovered so that my husband and son didn’t see.
This is a painful time for true followers of Jesus Christ and His Church. We must continually repeat the words St. Faustina taught us, “Jesus, I trust in You!” because at the end of the day, He is our only certainty.