October 2020 issue of spiritual life/Online now available
By Edward O’Donnell, OCD, Editor
“Madonna col Bambino e due angel”
By Filippo Lippi, Public Domain
Jesus is our strength. He is the one who knows the sorrows of the human heart and can heal our worst pain.
Living as a Christian during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, our basic belief that our lives are in the hands of a loving and caring God is challenged. The lives of our family and friends that have been lost to this disease highlight the indiscriminate cruelty of the pandemic. And with no end in sight, we may despair, thinking we will never be released from the suffering that is now part of our lives. But if we allow hope to intrude into our lives, we may be able to live without despair during this time of COVID.
God’s abiding love
This newly energized hope needs to be refounded on the awareness of the abiding love God has for us. This hope also needs to penetrate the darkness that suffering brings into our lives. There is no room for false hopes that dissolve before the reality of the pandemic and leave us mired in our suffering.
We need to trust that Jesus is our strength at this time — the one who suffered, died, and rose. He is the one who knows the sorrows of the human heart and can heal our worst pain.
Jesus, we trust in you.