COVID-19: AN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING GLORY TO GOD

Does anyone else feel like yelling at God "Make me a saint! Send me a cross! But this one's lame!" 

* Would anyone else rather be serving in a soup kitchen right now or visiting a nursing home... experiencing the satisfaction of serving people and accomplishing an external good?

* Would anyone else rather be at Mass right now, saying a prayer and receiving the Eucharist?

I don't think most people are too stoked about being shut up in their homes either by themselves or with their families (many with no work to do). 

I don't think most people are stoked about the most exciting outing they can go on right now being a trip to the grocery store.

But perhaps this is what God is calling you to.

When we picture doing the will of God in our lives, I highly doubt this is what most of us pictured it looking like. Perhaps we pictured going on a mission trip to Africa or leading some great movement... 

But that's just it: The most pleasing thing you can do for God right now, the greatest sacrifice you can give Him is accepting the daily bread He gives you and doing His will regardless of how boring, mundane, or pointless it feels. 

We tend to think the way to holiness is through some great act. (I think sometimes we may forget that the point of becoming a saint is not for our greater glory but for God's.) The fact is, the way to holiness is very simple. It consists in accepting the daily bread God has given you. It consists in offering every moment of your day as a prayer with Christ on the cross for the salvation of souls and for God's glory.

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I want to make a few suggestions for how we can become saints throughout COVID-19, and how we can make this a FRUITFUL time for the salvation of souls EACH DAY while putting on a smile on God's face:

-- When you wake up each morning, immediately say a prayer accepting God's will with all the trials you will experience that day (including moments/spans of sadness, boredom, loneliness, feelings of uselessness, irritations with household members, etc.)

-- A number of us have loads of extra time on our hands. While we may not find this a pleasant experience, we can accept even that as a cross and dedicate some of that time to prayer, reading scripture or books that help us grow, etc. I'm not saying become a Carmelite. I'm just saying commune with Our Lord for a while even if your prayer feels dry.**

-- Offer preparing your food as a prayer. Offer washing your dishes as a prayer. Offer doing your laundry as a prayer... ALL THOSE MUNDANE TASKS, if we turn them each into a prayer, can bring SO MUCH GLORY to God!!!

May SO MUCH GLORY be brought to God throughout COVID-19 and so many souls be saved! 

The world can come out of this a better place through little offerings every day!

** If you find yourself binging on YouTube or Netflix or whatever that may be a coping mechanism for you that's okay. But if you find spending your time this way is only adding to your feelings of restlessness or irritability, take a step back and consider using some of that time doing something that brings you peace like spending time in prayer or reading the scriptures / holy books.

Blessings From Raindrops: Finding The Good Amidst COVID-19

I would like to start off by saying that this post is not in any WAY, SHAPE, or FORM meant to devalidate the stress people are undergoing or the feelings of grief, sadness, or hopelessness people may be experiencing. First and foremost, I want you to know that it's ok to cry. Yet, at the same time...

In a time when many people are feeling hopeless, I think it is important to not lose sight of the fact that God can bring GREAT THINGS from dire or SEEMINGLY HOPELESS circumstances.

"God causes all things to work together for His glory." 

(Rom. 8:28)

Here are some beautiful things we can appreciate right away in the midst of the coronavirus:

1. Increased Appreciation For Things We Have

Many of us have been living in a world where it is easy to take things for granted: food, employment, housing, running water, high-quality medical care, transportation, even social interaction. In this time of unrest, many people are losing these things. 

I picked up a habit last Fall (which I have been negligent in recently) called Gratitude Journaling. One way to do this is to grab a notebook and make two rows of letters starting from A and ending with Z. Next to each letter list something (or things) starting with that letter that you are grateful for in your life.

This method can work well for a Type A personality, but feel free to give your journal as much or as little structure as you would like. 

Regardless of whether you pick up this habit or a similar habit...

I have a feeling that many of us are NOT going to take things for granted the way we used to. Employment? Restaurants? A plethora of food choices? Social interaction? 

Many people are going to be hit harder than others. As new struggles are faced and sacrifices are made, let's not take for granted the blessings we do have or the good that is still in the world.

2. Creative, Random Acts Of Kindness / Works Of Mercy

As noted above, many people are going to be hit harder than others. In the midst of these new struggles come many new opportunities to practice the works of mercy.

Sure, we may have to get creative. I don't think gathering hundreds of people into a soup kitchen is going be the most popular method at the moment,

but we can find other ways to reach people whether that be:

1. buying supplies for someone 

2. providing childcare for someone while they look for a job

3. reaching out to someone you know is socially isolated with a phone call or a similar method of communication

etc.

... The options far building connection are pretty much limitless in the twenty first century.

3. An Increase In Worldwide Prayer

Different parts of the world are doing different things in response to the coronavirus outbreak. One thing I have found many groups of people doing is uniting (not physically) in prayer for all the people whose lives are being negatively affected by the coronavirus outbreak. 

This doesn't mean simply praying for those who are ill. This means praying for those who have lost a job and are struggling to pay their bills, those who have lost childcare but still need to go to work everyday to provide for their families, elderly people whose social contact with the outside world is becoming all-the-more-drastically limited, kids who are falling behind in school or who don't know what to expect as they approach much-anticipated events such as proms and graduations, couples who are having to postpone and re-plan their weddings, etc.

I've seen people creating Facebook events to unite in prayer (again, not physically) on certain nights or at certain times. I know the Archbishop of my archdiocese has called for an additional day of fasting and prayer for all those being directly or indirectly affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

One of my hopes is that many people who have been far from their faith for years will take this as an opportunity to reconnect with their faith as they enter into prayer and bring God their petitions.

4. A New, Unifying Connection

The battle we're fighting right now is unique in that EVERYONE (I mean everyone in the world) is united against one common enemy: the disease. For once, the world may be at war but it is fighting as a unified whole. I recently read a post on Instagram that brought this to my attention.

Ironically, at a time when we may be pulling back on physical touch, we now have a new connection, a common enemy, that we can work together to fight.

If you think about it, the world is divided in so many things right now. There are different ideologies between countries and even within countries. I think it is very important that people be allowed these differences, and yet the difficulty lately has been HOW ostracized groups are from each other: just look at the Republican and Democratic parties.

Because we see people who are different from us as "other" and as "enemies," we constantly have our guard up, are distrusting, and are unable to find common ground and to really discuss out beliefs in a respectful, civilized way. 

But think about it. For once the ENTIRE WORLD is at war, and the entire world has ONE. COMMON. ENEMY. I hope that through the coronavirus we are able to set aside our differences enough to say: "I'm your brother or sister. I'm by your side. I can relate. We are humanity. Let's fight this together." For once, can we actually step back far enough to see our shared humanity and to unite in fighting something together?

~*~

So that's my pep talk for today, and this is my abrupt ending. I hope this article has given you even the slightest glimmer or hope and has helped reorient your mind even in just the slightest way to remember that there IS still good in the world, God is GREATER than all our problems, and God can work through even the greatest of our problems for EVERYONE'S greater good.

{And yes, this post was titled after the song Blessings by Laura Story. If you haven't yet heard it, you should give it a listen!}