Surviving Civilization: Being the Church in the time of Coronavirus

Good…just saw this quote as well

According to Pope Francis, “The fear of the Lord, the gift of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t mean being afraid of God, since we know that God is our Father that always loves and forgives us,…[It] is no servile fear, but rather a joyful awareness of God’s grandeur and a grateful realization that only in him do our hearts find true peace.”[2]

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The issue is not simply about fear and hope.The issue is about love and self sacrifice. If people will die if I act in selfisg way their death is my fault. In many places people are being asked to “self-isolate” in order to slow the progress of infections. Although symptoms may be mild for the majority the elderly and vunerable from other health issues are at greater risk. Am I prepared to sacrifice my freedom of movement etc to save the lives of many strangers?

Then there will be the economic fall out from it all. Again how much I am prepared to do and sacrifice for the well being of others, whether or not they are Christians. I do see a lot of good will and self- sacrifice from non-Christians, and that is surely God’s grace active in their lives. Will they put some of us to shame?

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Very good point. Thank you for making it.

The issue we were discussion before is the relationship between fear, God, and death. We are not to fear God because God is Love. We are not to fear death because Jesus Christ has conquered death through the gift of eternal life. Yet God and death are two very different.

We are to love God, because God is Good. We are also to respect God because God is powerful. We are to respect death, because death too is powerful, although it can kill only the body and not the spirit. We are not to test God by needlessly tempting death.