Where is God during this Coronavirus?

Corona virus has upset the whole world.  I am a firm believer in God.  However, I am as much a victim of the chaos created by that less-than-two-gram villain (or an angel of good news?) as any other non-believer.  But, the believers had a harder time.  As the places of worship were shut down questions or remarks like, ‘Where is your God’?  , ‘We told you it is no use going to the places of worship’, ‘Trust science and forget religion’ and others were flung to the believers.

A personal story

I was in Italy before the lock-down. When the Corona got vicious in Italy I was in Jamshedpur. When it got better I was back in Italy. For me personally the lock-down days were an amazing experience of God’s personal care. While in Jamshedpur I was in a beautiful location with greenery and chirpy birds. I also was amidst passionate people, who were serving the needy. The campus had a dedicated set of volunteers collecting food materials, packing them for distribution and taking them to the slums and villages where poverty had already struck the poor and marginalized, an impact of the stringent lock-down. I happened to visit one such location. I could feel the palpable fear on the face of the poor, especially those who did not have ration cards and, therefore, were not entitled to free food materials from the government. The volunteers had identified such families. First in line to receive was a frail looking, shabbily dressed woman in a sari, without chapals(footwear) and with a grim-face.

But, the moment she received her food packet she smiled, a smile as though she had seen God. I was reminded of Gandhiji’s words “To the poor God arrives in the form of bread”.

Search for true religion, right worship

The world forgot about true religion and went about building institutionalized, commercial, consumerist and utterly noisy ways of praying and worshiping. Isn’t God calling us back to a new way of believing, praying, trusting and sharing?

We all have completely forgotten the mandate of Justice. Social activists and some believers kept reminding that doing a bit of charity here and there would not answer our call to work for justice. The Corona virus has called us back to the Justice track. While the virus does not distinguish between the poor and the rich, the latter have a distinct advantage over the former in terms of getting treatment. The poor just cannot afford the expensive treatment for severely affected Corona virus patients. The Public Health System has broken down even in some of the richest countries.

This definitely is a time for turning back to God. But in a new kind of religion.  We cannot or should not wait for the old normal to return. We need to birth a “New Normal” where the household religion, praying in spirit, in silence with the holy books/scripture takes prominence and work for Justice becomes an essential part of our faith. It is Faith and Justice, two sides of the same coin.

We also need hope. Predictions are horrifying. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates called the Corona virus pandemic a “nightmare scenario”. And unless the whole world, not just a few island of security, wakes up, we could end up with millions more dying. There is no consoling news, instead the cases are going up and vaccines are emerging ever so slowly.

The Challenge

Here is the challenge: Keep up the hope and obey the protocols. All that we know is that it helps to wash our hands, wear a mask, and avoid crowds as much as possible.

There is so much to do: The most important thing being “Advocate, Believe and Live in hope”. In midst of the worst human misery women and men have dreamt of peace and prosperity. Let us too be dreamers of healing, peace and prosperity. God is with each of us when we continue to with hope.