Lenten Reflection Day 29

Today I am reminded of a famous Catholic hymn and responsorial psalm, psalm 104 “Lord send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.” As I continue to try and wrap my head around how our world has changed over the past two weeks, I find myself humming this tune, “Lord send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.”

Not to downplay the virus or to make light the sacrifice and sufferings of those afflicted, I can’t help but be encouraged by what I see and hear around me. With the amount of good coming out of this dark time it is hard to dismiss God at work.

Families are able to spend more time together doing basic things that would not have been done before social distancing and quarantining. Family dinners are now a ‘thing’, as is family game night, family outdoor play, family worship of the Lord on Sundays, overall togetherness. Could this be the spirit of God working to renew our families, i.e. His domestic church?

The environment has begun to heal itself as the air quality improves around the globe. Major industrial cities are now breathing air cleaner than they have since the 1950’s. National parks are reporting air quality data showing, in some cases, more than a 50% ozone clearing. The waterways around the world are beginning to transition back to their original brilliance, and sea creatures are returning to their abandoned homes since human pollution is down. Could this be God’s spirit renewing our battered earth?

Something wonderful and profound is happening to mankind as well. Isolation has somehow filled us with more kindness, charity, love and understanding than even the greatest natural disasters of the last 20 years. Companies and small businesses are banning together to problem solve and offer solutions in real time. Could this be God’s spirit renewing the human spirit by way of His own?

We are witnessing God at work all around us. He has removed all of our normal distractions and is asking if we are paying attention to Him? He demands and deserves our undivided attention. We have no excuses, my friends. The time is now. God wants to renew us now. He wants us to share so deeply in His death and resurrection this year like never before. Let us heed His call and allow our spirits to be moved and molded by His. Let us take the opportunity of these next two weeks to pray more, to listen more, and to seek God’s forgiveness and friendship. May His spirit of renewal fill you and your families with the hope of the resurrection.

Blessings to You and Yours!