The Preachin' Deacons were at it again this weekend! The video link and the text of my contribution are provided below.
At a daily press briefing last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York
proudly touted the state’s successes in its battle against the corona virus
saying, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do
that. Faith did not do that.” I don’t
talk politics in my homilies, so I won’t address the wisdom of taking a swipe
at God and faith during a pandemic. But
I do talk faith, and Governor Cuomo’s comment deserves a faith response. Lucky for me, today’s readings do the heavy
lifting, because our readings speak to God’s loving, active presence in our
lives.
In our first reading from the
Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter beautifully invokes today’s Psalm to acknowledge
God’s steadfast presence and guiding hand: “I saw the Lord ever before me;”
“You have made known to me the paths of life;” “I bless the Lord who counsels
me.” And in our Gospel, Jesus walks with
the disciples, he listens to them, he teaches them, and he makes himself known
to them in the breaking of the bread. Scripture assures us that Jesus is Emmanuel—“God
with us.”
We Catholics are incarnational and sacramental people—we believe that
God is actively present in our lives and that we encounter God’s presence, his
grace, his inspiration in our hearts and minds through creation, the
Incarnation, and the sacraments. God,
for us, isn’t like some distant clock maker who created the world, set it in
motion, and left it alone to wind down into oblivion. Our God reveals himself to us in creation and
in his Word. He inspires us through his Holy Spirit, and he saves us
from oblivion through the life, death and resurrection of his only begotten Son. God is with us on every step of our
journey. If we take the time to look for
him, we’ll find him there.
I have no qualms with celebrating the marvelous progress women and men
have made in combating the corona virus, but to divorce these accomplishments
from God and faith is prideful at best, and history and Greek tragedies tell us
that with great pride comes an even greater downfall. Yes, human drive and
ingenuity have resulted in much-needed progress with the pandemic, but where
did that drive and ingenuity come from?
It comes from God. God created us
with the intellect to tackle our toughest problems; God gave us the talent and
the resources to turn our thoughts into solutions; and God inspires us to use
these gifts for the benefit of others. God
created humanity not only with an instinctual drive to live, but with a will to
make life worth living for ourselves and for others.
Real, lasting progress, progress that’s worth celebrating, only happens
when we look for and respond to God’s loving, active presence in our lives. I
work pretty close to the front lines of the battle against the corona virus,
and I can tell you, I see God’s loving, active presence everywhere! I see God
giving strength to our weary clinicians and inspiration to our scientists; I
see God moving people to find creative ways to help others; and I even see God
in New York!
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