Reflections of a beloved son

The world is in the midst of a battle.  The Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic has taken over the world.  It started in a small part of a country and then it spread.  People who may have contracted it did not know they were infected and then they travel and meet family and friends, and by doing so, those they met may have been infected. This silent agent brought our world to a standstill.  Countries closed their borders.  School are closed.  Stores are closed.  Churches are closed.  Public masses and services are cancelled.  This microscopic agent wreaked havoc on the world.  But it does not have the last word. At the surface, the battle that we are in the midst of is a physical one.  People are getting sick. People are dying.  But we are simultaneously fighting a spiritual battle.  People are turning on each other.  One race discriminates against another.  People turn inward and put their own needs above others....

Have you ever been in a desperate situation?  How did you feel?  How did you respond?  Who did you turn to?  Whenever we are in those situations we tend to cling onto even the tiniest sliver of hope or the thinnest beam of light. We hold onto that tiny sliver and thin beam as if it's our only way out and as if our very life depends on it. In the Gospel, the synagogue official humbled himself and let go of his pride and turned to Jesus when his daughter died.  He said to Jesus, "My daughter has just died, but come, lay your hand on her, and she will live."  What faith!  And, for a Jewish official, too!  This man risked the ridicule of his fellow brothers and perhaps even his status and standing with the faith.  Yet, at that moment, Jesus, he recognized, was the only solution, the only person who could help him in this desperate situation .  This man believed that Jesus had the power to raise his daughter from the dead.  This man cl...