A Radical Call

Responding to God’s call is a long, evolving process for many people. However, Scripture also gives us examples of an immediate response—for example, when the Ninevites instantly repented upon hearing Jonah’s dire words about their impending destruction; when Simon, Andrew, James and John abandoned their fishing nets to follow Jesus; and when Paul was baptized and began to preach the good news after being blinded by a dazzling light on the road to Damascus.

In our own times, people throughout the world have been visited by the same messenger, which we call the COVID-19 virus. As Sr. Barbara Reid notes in Give Us This Day, “We are urged to recognize that a new time presses upon us, requiring different responses from before. There is nothing ordinary about the invitation to follow Jesus more radically in this urgent time.”

How does the virus invite us to follow Jesus more radically? It calls us to repentance about our callous disregard for the animals with which we share the earth, because our encroachment on their habitat leads not only to their destruction but to our own as we acquire diseases from them. The exceptionally contagious virus reminds us that we need to follow Christ today because we might not be here to do it tomorrow. It also demonstrates the urgent need to “Be devoted to one another in love; honor one another above yourselves” as Paul says in Romans 12:10. In our days, that translates to wearing masks and practicing physical distancing to help keep others safe from the virus.

In Deuteronomy 30: 19-20, God says, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.” God says the same thing to us today, and the times call us to an immediate and whole-hearted response.