{"id":9839,"date":"2021-06-06T12:46:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T16:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=9839"},"modified":"2021-05-16T13:53:39","modified_gmt":"2021-05-16T17:53:39","slug":"learning-from-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=9839","title":{"rendered":"Learning from the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

God is love. In His love He has allowed \u2014 not \u201csent\u201d \u2014 this pandemic to us who are living in a very fallen world. In referring to problems that have arisen many experienced monastics, both from centuries past and in our present times, are known to say, \u201cThis has happened because of my sins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This pandemic is indeed because of our sins: our sins as individuals, as families, as communities, as nations, as mankind. We must find some humility within ourselves and reassess our spiritual, familial, national, and individual values. In doing so, we will see that we need to \u201cturn back\u201d, repent, be redirected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything that comes from God is good. We find this again and again in Holy Scripture, especially in the Psalms. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.<\/span> This is sung throughout much of the year at Matins. Yes, His mercy does endure, in spite of our behavior and attitudes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of the arrogant and negative reactions that have been so prevalent throughout this pandemic, let us echo the words and behavior of the holy Prophet David: It is good that Thou hast humbled me, that<\/span> \/ might learn Thy precepts<\/span> (Ps 118:71).<\/span><\/p>\n

Are we reacting in a humble manner? Are we trying to change our attitude, our behavior, our reactions? Or are we convinced that we know more than those who are professionals in various fields of medicine, law, etc. Are our actions, words and thoughts arrogant or humble toward those in authority, especially the hierarchs who want only our well-being and salvation? Are we imitating the humility of the saints<\/span><\/p>\n

whose lives we love to read? Or do we only pridefully speak of those saints and their virtues to others?<\/span><\/p>\n

The fathers of the Church tell us that \u201cbad\u201d things happen either to punish us for our sins or to make us amend our ways. This pandemic is both. When we are at our lowest, most sorrowful state, we tend to turn more toward God. We see this throughout the Old Testament. Our present world is very much like the ancient Israelites who adopted practices that were alien to God, who turned from Him and trusted in themselves. Even as the holy Prophet Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the people fell back into idol worship at the very time that Moses was receiving the Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. None of those who left Egypt lived to see the promise land.<\/span><\/p>\n

May we not follow that example!<\/span><\/p>\n

– From ‘The Veil’ of Protection of the Holy Virgin Monastery in Colorado<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God is love. In His love He has allowed \u2014 not \u201csent\u201d \u2014 this pandemic to us who are living in a very fallen world. In referring to problems that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modern-orthodox-elders","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9841,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9839\/revisions\/9841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}