Covid-19 caused a revolution of tenderness, the revolution of the heart of global proportion!

In the last paragraph of last week’s Shalom, I wrote: “So, can we get close to knowing something of God’s will by being Awake, Alert, Aware? Is it possible to experience such intimacy in moments like this happening called Covid-19? The answer is Yes. I will explain in the next Shalom.”

First, I believe that being Awake, Alert and Aware during this scary pandemic demands much Attention to our “inner nature”, “our inner person”, “our inner Self” (cfr 2nd Cor. 4:16-17) which is a state of loving intimacy with God after long struggling on the contemplative path, a deep personal union of the heart and mind, and not of the intellect or reason. Second, this inner person is the “I” of Galatians 2:20 where the mystic Paul claims, “and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me”. This is the commentary of the Methodist Scripture expert Victor Paul Furnish in II Corinthians: A New Trans. with Intro & Com, The Anchor Bible, page 289, where this inner person is he “who by faith has grasped the reality of the new life in Christ willed and accepted in freedom.”

So we perhaps can conclude that an enlightened, redeemed or Christified person like this one will no longer inquire about the causes and effects of events or why things happen. Yes, why? Because she/he lives, and therefore loves, with one’s heart and mind in obedience to God’s will. The 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal put it in simple terms: “The heart has its reason which reason does not know.”

In the present context of worldwide compassion for self-giving and self-sacrifice the Covid-19 pandemic, though difficult it may be for many to admit, has brought about something undeniably positive: it has created a global revolution of the heart! This is what Pope Francis previously calls “revolution of tenderness” (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 88.). He now refers to it again in his moving homily on March 27 before the special “Urbi et Orbi” blessing: “In the midst of isolation when we are suffering from a lack of tenderness and chances to meet up, and we experience the loss of so many things, let us once again listen to the proclamation that saves us: he is risen and is living by our side.”

This brings us back to Evangelii Gaudium where the Pope asserts the centrality of faith in the Risen Lord Jesus because “true faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness” (no.88).