I just came across this old post from Father Nicanor Austriaco, op.  It's at least a year old.  He's answering the question of why is God sending this COVID pandemic. It still gives me pause for contemplation.

There are numerous stories in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that reveal that there is theological meaning behind plagues and pestilence and pandemic.

There are three possibilities. The pandemic could be a divine blessing, a divine punishment, or a divine test.

I think that very few people today would see this viral pandemic as a blessing. How could the exponential increases in global deaths and illness be a blessing? How could the overflowing hospitals and exhausted and broken health care professionals be a blessing? How could the economic devastation experienced by all, especially by the poor and the vulnerable and the marginalized, be a blessing?

It is difficult to see all of this as a blessing. And yet, it would not surprise me if God will reveal the blessings that He can realize in and through the devastating tragedy of human suffering and death. In His time.

Could this pandemic be a punishment? There are many in the West who recoil from such a suggestion. However, both Testaments clearly indicate that God our Father can lovingly chastise His sons and daughters through plague and pestilence.

More recently, the Mother of God spoke about a divine chastisement when she appeared at Fatima, Portugal, just over a century ago. So it is not unreasonable to understand the pandemic in this way.

Why would God chastise His people? He does this to correct us so that we may flourish more fully and more joyfully and move lovingly. It is a sign of a Father’s love.

Finally, I think that it is reasonable to see this pandemic as also a test. Every cross is a test. It is a call to fidelity. It is a call to love more, especially to love God and neighbor more, even when it is difficult and stressful and anxiety-ridden.

So how should we respond to this pandemic when we realize that it is both punishment and test, with the hope that we may one day see it as a blessing?

The Lenten answer is a tried and true approach: Prayer, Penance, and Almsgiving. We should take the time in our quarantines and our lockdowns to pray a little more. Praying with Christ.

We should embrace our quarantines and our lockdowns and the little and not so little pains that come with them as a penance. Redemptive in Christ.

And we should seek out small and not so small ways to serve those around us who may be struggling because they see no more meaning in a time of pandemic. Loving like Christ.