The Mysterious Plans of God

So I wanted to give a little homily in English, now we are giving this.  And I’m not thinking just about very tiny, tiny group that we have in this chapel.  But I’m also thinking of those who will be listening to this homily on the internet.  So we’re giving this with the men who are making this Encounter with Jesus in Spanish, and I plannned my nice little gospel on the beautiful, but nice little homily on the gospel we had today, the Samaritan woman. But with this new situation, I thought, it’s good to reflect on that with you all.  So I threw away, my homily. And last night, I was trying to put together a new little reflection, because this is a very unusual situation that we’re living.  I’ve never lived this situation without any with, with no public masses, in my lifetime.  I think a lot of people are understandably disturbed by the situation and wondering what should be done, and how should this be handled.  And we’re here we’re just trying to obey the Archbishop who’s trying to who’s trying to fulfill his responsibilities.  But I think that there’s a deeper mystery.  Beyond all the human events, there’s the mystery of God, who is always present and acting, and leading His plans through human history.  We can’t see that we can’t understand that it’s only in faith, that we can perceive catch glimpses of the mysterious action of God, and the depths, leading everything, according to His plans.  What we do know is, as Saint Paul said to the Romans, God makes all things work to the good for those who love Him, all things.  And even what satan’s plans because satan has his plan, satan has all his strategy, which is always to hurt, which is always to destroy, which is always the cause pain, and not just physical pain, but especially spiritual pain, to separate always to try to separate us from God.  But God is so great that He can even use satan’s attacks, to turn it against satan.  And the great examples, the greatest example we have of that is the cross in which satan pushes men to kill, torture and kill our Savior.  But God uses even that most satanic action with all that chaos that it caused, that God used that to actually destroy the power of satan and bring about the salvation of souls. And so in this Coronavirus that we’re living behind the biological reality and human reality of this Coronavirus. there’s, I think, a spiritual attack.  Not only to satan wants to harm our bodies, but above all, he wants to cause fear and panic and to frighten us and so that we don’t turn to God.  But we just panic. So there’s a supernatural spirit.  This Coronavirus is not just a physical attack, but also behind it, a spiritual attack.  So it needs a supernatural response.  And that’s what we have to look at God’s plans with faith.  God’s plans are, as I said, often hard to see, but his plans are advanced and nothing can stop them.  All the just the way like the all the action, all the plans of Jesus enemies and all the strategy of satan who crucified led to Jesus crucifixion.  But even they could not stop when God decided to act, no human power, no satanic power could stop the action of God.  No one can limit God’s action. And even if the Sunday masses are, if we can’t, if people aren’t able to come to Sunday masses, no one can limit God’s grace and His presence.  And so this very time can help us to grow in faith and hope in humility, and also to learn to see God and the chaos.  But just like on that Friday, that terrible chaos of that Friday, it was very hard to see God.  It seemed like just the complete destruction of God’s plans.  Yet even in that chaos, God was working.  God was even in a terrible chaos.  God was kind of bring about his greatest gift of sacrifice.  So even in the terrible chaos of our world today, nothing can destroy God’s plans which advance.  So this is happening, not by chance, in Lent.  Lent is this time of penance, of conversion, of sacrifice for a great renewal, which prepares us to let Jesus passion and death to also live, His resurrection, His triumph.  So I didn’t sense in last couple of days in this very unusual situation.  It’s been seeming to me that, and I might be wrong about this, but it seems to me that, you know, as I said, this is happening during Lent.  What we know we’ve often talked about here that the Church is going through a terrible crisis. And it has been, for many years, a terrible crisis of faith. And our world is going through this crisis, and even the terrible scandals in the Church and all of that.  And it seems to me that, that this shutting down the Masses, closing the Masses, is a sign, like, a certain death in the Church, that the Church is called, to follow this path of Jesus, of suffering, and death, and being placed in a tomb.  And it’s almost like the Church has been just like the tomb that closed its doors on Jesus.  It’s like the doors have been closed on the Church.  Like a time of death.  But we know that death is the preparation, the death of Jesus is a preparation for His Resurrection.  And I think that God can use this time as a great renewal, a great renewal, and new beginning for the Church.  And so how should we live?  How does God want us to live? I don’t know how long this is going to last. How many weeks?  Maybe?  I don’t know, maybe months?  I don’t know.  But how should we live this?  Not as a vacation from our faith, but rather as a type of more intense life of our faith, more intense life of our Christian life.  But President Trump has declared today as a national day of prayer, and that’s a good thing to mobilize the whole nation as a time of prayer.  And so if we’re not able at where we are today, but if most people are many people listening to this are not able to participate in public Masses, at least on Sundays.  This can help us appreciate more, the grace when we can’t participate in the Mass, and also make us realize that the most important participation in the Mass is not the physical presence.  How many times do people just go the Mass out of a routine or out of just they feel that they have to.  But that’s not the most important participation, the most important is the spiritual participation, by faith, to participate with faith, if we just come physically, without faith, there is not much that enters.  So the very fact that we cannot participate physically can be an opportunity to discover the essential participation, which is the spiritual participation of faith, and no walls.  No one can prohibit us from participating spiritually, and the grace and the Lord can give us the same graces and even more graces, through that act of spiritual communion of faith and love, wherever we are.  We’ve put a few ideas on our website to help people a few ideas about how to live that.  But remember, Jesus says, so often, do not be afraid.  And in this crisis, He’s saying to us today, do not be afraid.   And even these words of the gospel come to mind when Jesus said, when these things began to take place, and He’s talking about very difficult things, but He said, but instead of saying, you know, look down, be sad, He says, look up, raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.  And so these are times to raise our heads with hope, with prayer, with confidence and with hope and God, because it’s a sign of the grace is the Lord, that is redemptive Grace is joined near.  And so to conclude, and this Gospel, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, give me to drink, give me to drink. And on the cross, Jesus says, I thirst.  What is His thirst for, it’s not just for water.   His thirst is for your response, your response of faith, your response of trust, which permits Him to pour out His water, His grace, His mercy, like we see from the image, pour it into our heart.  As he says in the Gospel today, the Samaritan woman, so that in you can spring up springs of living water.  It springs up His grace and His mercy for you, and through you for many others.  So what Jesus is asking of us, especially in this crisis, is an act of faith, an act of trust, so that His Graces can flow more in a new way for us in our world which needs it so desperately.  Our world is like a terrible desert and shutting down. The satan wants to cause fear and separate us from the Mass so that we dry up.  But on the contrary, if we make this act of faith in Jesus, with the help of our Blessed Mother by that fact, act of faith, and trust, then these graces can flow with a new abundance.  Jesus, we trust in You.