Real Life Disciples: How long O Lord?

Happy Easter! Though this year is far different from other Easters, and has the lingering presence of COVID-19, we still find ourselves rejoicing in the Resurrection and filled with hope because death no longer has a hold on us. “O death, where is your victory, o death, where is your sting?!” (I Cor. 15:55)
 
It is Easter in fact, more than anything else, that gives us hope right now during this health crisis, amid all the uncertainty going on around us. Jesus rose from the dead! Death could not hold him (Acts 2:24). And, through him, as his followers, we have the same power. Even in the face of our dire circumstances, we need not fear (Isaiah 35:4, 41:10, Mt. 6:34, John 14:27 – there are many more!).
 
Lest we allow our present circumstances to become too overwhelming, sometimes it’s good to see things from another perspective. There have been many other times throughout the history of the Church where Christians faced similar circumstances for far longer periods of time than this.
 
“In the year 165, a devastating plague swept through the Roman Empire. During the 15-year epidemic, a quarter to a third of the population probably died of it.” (Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion, New York: Harper, 2011, 114-119).
 
A second plague struck in 249 that lasted another 13 years. At the height of the outbreak, it is said that Rome lost an estimated 5,000 people a day to the disease. Ironically, it was during these horrible plagues that the Church grew the most.
 
We can look to the Old Testament and see even longer stretches of time of great suffering. The Israelites were in captivity to the Egyptians for 150 years. The Babylonian exile lasted more than 40 years, followed by occupation by the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans. Many faithful Jews lived their entire lives in dire circumstances with seemingly no intervention from the God they believed in and worshipped. This is in stark contrast to the lives most of us have lived, with relatively every religious freedom imaginable available to us.
 
Their lived experience led to the oft quoted phrase from scripture, “How long O Lord!” (Psalm 6, 13, 35, 79, 80, 89; Isaiah 6; Habakkuk 1; Zechariah 1). The people cried out to God, longing for his return, and longing for him to deliver them from their oppressors. We can find ourselves these days with a similar cry welling up within us, “How long will this virus last O Lord?! How much can we all take before you save us?”
 
I hope the stories I have shared give encouragement and inspiration. Others have gone this way, and they emerged from the hysteria. The early plagues actually were the primary source of growth in the Church during the first several hundred years of our history. It was the bold witness of many Christians, serving the poor and the sick that led to conversions of entire families after the epidemics were over.
 
During this Easter season, I want to encourage everyone to reflect on the source of this bold witness. The encounter with the person of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was what many of these early Christians pointed to when asked why they lived the way they did. That same source is ever present for us and can help us to be those kinds of witnesses in our own time. The Easter season, leading up to Pentecost, is the perfect opportunity to spend more time getting to know the Holy Spirit.
 
Archbishop Coakley is inviting us all to learn more about the Holy Spirit. There are several ways you can do that this Easter season:
 

1. The Wild Goose Study Series – Reacquaint yourself with the Holy Spirit through a seven-week video reflection by “The Ministry of the Wild Goose.” The series is led by Father Dave Pivonka, president of Franciscan University. The videos are available for free on WildGoose.TV. Seven of the 14 episodes are recommended, and special study materials have been developed to guide you through the Easter season to Pentecost.

 

2. Pentecost Novena – Archbishop Coakley invites all the faithful to pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit with him in the nine days leading up to the Feast of Pentecost.

 

3. Join us for a livestream of the Pentecost Vigil Mass with Archbishop Coakley on Saturday, May 30. We’re not sure if restrictions will be lifted by then or not, but archbishop will be celebrating the Mass that evening either way. Plan to join him with your family to celebrate this awesome feast of the Church, and to pray with the archbishop for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our Church and in our own archdiocese.

 
More information for all three available at archokc.org/holyspirit.