Hope in the Time of Corona

Before reading this reflection, I would like to ask the dear reader to do a little spiritual exercise. It is not about reciting a prayer or answering the questions of an examination of conscience. My suggested spiritual exercise is to go through your trash can and make a list of its contents.

Assuming this exercise, I remind you that next Sunday we will listen to the prophet Amos and Jesus according to the Gospel of Luke. In some respects, Amos lived in a time similar to ours. A small group of billionaires surrounded by a great mass of poor people always threatened by hunger. The prophet addresses the upper class in Zion (Jerusalem) and Samaria to denounce both their opulent lifestyle and their lack of concern for Joseph; Joseph is not a person but the entire country, then known as the house of Joseph since the two largest tribes were Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of the patriarch Joseph. The prophet announces to them a punishment that consists of deportation. In this way the excesses and luxury in which they lived will end.

Jesus also lived in a time of stark inequalities. A vast majority of poor and a few rich and powerful. But Jesus, unlike Amos, has no illusions. He does not believe that the powerful will receive a punishment in this story; for him everyone will receive his reward in the future Kingdom.

In our time, in addition to a few very rich and a multitude of poor, there is the middle class. It would be very easy as we listen to the Word of God this Sunday to dedicate ourselves to pointing out the rich as the only ones responsible for poverty in the world. We can all do something, we are all responsible. Pope Francis in Laudato Si says that “Love, full of small gestures of mutual care, is also civil and political, and manifests itself in all actions that seek to build a better world” (n° 231). The garbage can shows how much we could have done for those who are hungry and didn't. How much longer will it take? Today we can start to change.

We invite you to add your comments to this blog entry on our Facebook.