This week I was shocked to hear about the deaths of 10 religious sisters at Port Shepstone who were suffering from Covid-19. In South Africa we are now in a second wave of the pandemic with some 28 000 people infected and over 700 deaths in the last couple of days. We are not sure how long this second wave will last but it seems like the new variant of the corona virus is much more contagious than that of the first wave we experienced during July. This is not good news for us as we approach new year. We continue to struggle and adapt to this on-going pandemic and at times it seems very confusing and even depressing because no one really knows what’s going to happen next in this regard.
And here we are celebrating Christmas Day in a
pandemic. It is a very strange experience for us all and it does challenge us
to reflect on the meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ during this global
struggle. The key to the Christmas celebration is in John 1,14 of today’s
Gospel proclamation:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Yes, Jesus
is God incarnate. The Gospel proclaims that the Eternal Divine Son of God
united Himself with humanity by becoming human in the womb of the Virgin Mary
through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus has made humanity sacred,
has restored the divine image in humanity which had been destroyed by sin. And
we who believe in the Lord Jesus are “born of God” (John 1,13). In other words,
through his Incarnation, the Son of God is now present in humanity and makes it
possible for us to become holy like Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, the Lord Jesus has made human life sacred with a
divine dignity and it is this revelation which shapes our life, enlightens our
minds and directs our relationships and behaviour in our interactions and
conversations. This awareness which we have concerning the sacred dignity of
human life is a wonderful sign of our being saved in Christ. It is this
awareness that motivates us to care for one another, to respect one another, to
seek the best for one another, to protect and educate one another. In a word,
this awareness is what directs our witnessing to Christ in this world.
The pandemic cannot stop us from
witnessing to Christ. It only forces us to change the way we witness to Christ.
How
do we care for one another in a pandemic? How do we show one another that we
respect the sacred value of our human life in a pandemic? Surely it means we
need to understand how this virus attacks us and how it spreads from one person
to another. Surely it means we must behave responsibly in the light of this
knowledge and challenge one another to act responsibly as well. Surely it means
we must support and encourage the scientists researching and developing
vaccines that can boost our immunity against the virus. Think about the doctors
and nurses treating the infected people and how vulnerable they are at getting
infected themselves. Surely we cannot claim to celebrate Christmas meaningfully
if at the same time we behave as though we have no responsibility concerning
how this virus spreads from one person to another. Yesterday in one of the
radio stations I heard a doctor pleading for people to avoid social gatherings,
to wear masks properly in public, to keep social distancing and hands
sanitised. Why was she saying this: because if the number of infected people
increases as it is presently happening, the hospital beds and medical resources
will not be sufficient, meaning more people will suffer and die because the
doctors will simply not be able to cope with the increasing demand. Yes, the
pandemic certainly has forced us to change the way we witness to the Christmas
message and God is really testing us in a new way we never expected would
happen in our lifetime.
And so let us pray to the Lord for all the graces we
need during this trying time: for wisdom, courage and a spirit of humility to
be able to personally witness to the sacredness of human life both in ourselves
as well as in others whom we encounter every day and to take care that we do
not infect one another with Covid-19.
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