Reflection in times of Corona

It's our 29th day of confinement and it's also the day that Christ has risen. Easter morn.

For almost a month now, we are inside our home. There are days that we enjoy it. Some days we're so occupied that we didn't even know that, that day passed by as quickly as it came. There are some days we're annoyed, some days we're bored, some days we are too lazy to do anything but most of the days  (or my days) are spent thinking about "Why, with all these modern technology, why can't we find a vaccine or a cure?" 

Covid-19 cases are still rising, people are still getting sick, people are dying. This virus took out our liberty to do whatever we want. 

Maybe because there lies the problem. People do whatever they want. 

We do whatever we want. 

We want to pollute the air, we  do it. We want to exploit nature, we do it. We want to contaminate the water, we do it. We want to impure the land, we do it. We want to abuse our life, we do it. 

We can do everything. 

We feel that we owe the world nothing and the world owe us everything. 

That God created this world, place it into the palm of our hands and then one day we just decided that we can do whatever we want with it. 

We felt powerful that we forgot that someone greater than us, greater than everything just lend us this world, just lend us this life. 

And the irony of everything is that God did not stopped us. 

Instead a virus stopped us. A virus, that in my opinion is an effect of what we did to this world. An effect of what we did with our lives. A virus that in our modern world today; filled with advanced technology to create and re-create, we can't even find any cure, any vaccine or  any solution. 

Look at what Coronavirus did.  

It brought us back to our source by stopping everything.  It stopped them. It stopped us. It stopped the whole humanity. 

Reflecting on it, this virus made us vulnerable. It made us feel fear once again. Reminded us that we are not invincible, that we are not powerful, that there are things that we cannot control. It made us dependent on one another.  Made us reach out to the bottom of our hearts for something to believe in. It spurts faith once again. And faith made us HUMAN once again. 

And it brought us to our senses.

That our life is not ours to keep. That we just borrowed it. From ash we came, from ash we shall return. Everything will one day return to its proper place. Everything should go back to its sources.

Today, while having dinner with my family. We thought about the changes this Covid-19 brought to our lives. And all our answers lead me to this realisation:

In our modern lives, we spend most of our time with our work, doing something else, spending more time with colleagues rather than our family. We communicate with one or two text messages a day with our love one (if time allows us). That most of us depends on our own, we created this mentality that this is my life, this is my opinion, this is my decision. And that the basic excuse that comes out of our mouth is this, "I DON'T HAVE TIME." 

Now with the widespread quarantine, WE ALL HAVE THE TIME.  

To eat home cooked meals with our family, instead of eating out. To communicate with them face to face, instead of facetime. To play with our kids, instead of just putting them to bed when you arrive from work. To create something (bake with them, paint with them...), instead of spending our time with mobile devices, gadgets etc... To dance with them, instead of them spending time doing "Tiktok".  To laugh with them, instead of laughing at them.  To learning with them, instead of only teaching them. To do things together, instead of doing it by yourself. Saying "I have time", instead of "If I have time" or worst the "I-don't-have-time" excuse.

It is going back to the basics once again. 

The irony (again)? The sense of "being a family" was restored by this virus. 

One of our children said that, this situation gave everyone a chance to show that each and everyone (still) can care and show love for another. That everyone can be a hero in disguise. That we can partake in making this world a better place. (I think, she got that from a song)

One of our children is amazed how we can pray for someone we don't even know. And how we can pray more often than before. 

The irony? A sense of humanity and of faith restored by this virus.

We are used to waking up early in the morning, but we are just too busy preparing ourselves to go to work and our kids to go to school. But right now what Coronavirus did is that, as soon as we get up, it let us hear the "beauty of silence."

 No cars, no motors (in rare cases plane), only the sound of  birds chirping (or sometimes dog barking). I personally have forgotten, for a long time, what silence sounds like.

On the news, In Venice, their canals are clearing up, people can see fishes swimming on it. In Manila, sky is clearing up, opening up to a fresher sunrise and a lovely sunset.  In India, people can see the 'Himalayas" once again in some part of their country. 

Nature is healing. 

I won't ask what's the irony, for I know you all get what I mean. 

I know that Coronavirus brought different effects to the lives of each and everyone of us.  Mostly it brought sadness, anguish and pain. It is like darkness that befell on us all but always remember that sometimes we need to go through this darkness to get to the light. For it is knowing the darkness that we can appreciate the goodness of the light of God. 

I pray that may we find positivity in this time of difficulty. 

Let us be witnesses to the risen Lord. Happy Easter everyone!!!