By Maria Mercedes “Chi-Chi” F. Robles
Lord, I gaze at Your lifeless body on the cross, disfigured by wounds and sores. A picture of unimaginable pain and suffering. I am moved, dear God, by the thought that the victims of coronavirus seemed to have taken on some of the agonies of Your Passion.
It is said that those stricken by the disease experience high fevers and excruciating headaches. My Lord, aren’t they similar to the thorns that pierced through your head so deep that blood oozed from every cavity? The soldiers thrust on Your head a mockery of a crown that didn’t have gems that shone but instead had deadly spikes that cut flesh. What luck that the virus is known as “corona,” which means crown!
Those who are critically ill of COVID-19 have difficulty breathing, causing them to depend on oxygen masks and, in worst cases, to be intubated and attached to a ventilator. The virus attacks the lungs and causes the victim to gasp for air. Dear Jesus, isn’t this reminiscent of the terrible torture of hanging on the cross, hanging by Your nailed hands and feet, consequently causing Your chest, Your lungs, to collapse? Moving Your head, even uttering words, must have been extremely painful. But even from up there You were teaching us.
The saddest part of the COVID-19 patient’s journey is the separation from family and loved ones. From the moment a sick person tests positive, he/she is isolated and enters a cruel but necessary sort of incarceration, which allows no visitors, no healing touch, no comforting words from people they love most. My Savior, how did You bear that undeserved sentence of death on the cross, the separation from Your Beloved Mother, the betrayal of those You taught and trusted, and the abandonment by those You called friends? Alone, naked, despised, dying like a criminal – how can You still love us and forgive us after that?
I pray that in Your great mercy, the lives claimed by this virulent tragedy will not be in vain. Reward them, Lord, with eternal peace in Your kingdom, where they will be untouched by thorns and tortures. Comfort their families and friends with the thought that their loved ones shared in Your suffering in a humanly heroic and divinely pleasing way. It was not a curse but a call to come home.
Tonight and moving forward, I choose to focus on Christ Jesus on the Cross and not coronavirus. Enough talk about the crisis. Instead I exclaim Christ-is! Jesus Christ, our Savior, lives. Amen.#
The article was written on April 10, Good Friday. The author served as Managing Director of UA&P’s Corporate Communications Office (2010-2016) and of the Public and International Affairs Office (2014-2016). She was part of the UA&P Jubilee Committee (2016-2018). She has a family-oriented weekday morning show in Veritas846, Ang Radyo ng Simbahan. This piece was cited verbatim in the Easter Vigil homily of Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop of Caloocan. The bishop received a copy from his older brother Prof. Randy David and admitted being inspired by it.
Banner photo by Raheel Shakeel from Pixabay.
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