Why Coronavirus Came

Seeing our sins as the cause of suffering

03/17/2020

Daniel 3:25, 34-43 Azariah stood up in the fire and prayed aloud: “For your name’s sake, O Lord, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant. Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one, To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea. For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame. And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy. Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord.”

As soon as a child begins to wonder about the world, he or she inevitably utters the question, “Why?” There is probably not a single human being on earth today who has not uttered that same question in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Why has this coronavirus reached pandemic proportions? The question “How?” can be answered by scientists and doctors; but the question “Why?” can only be answered by philosophers and theologians.

Close on the heels of the question “Why?” comes the correlative question “Who’s to blame for this mess?” Some people are quick to blame the Chinese or at least their government. Others want to blame the president and what he did or did not do. Others may even blame millennials who do not want to stay indoors but keep congregating in bars and restaurants. And still many people of faith place the blame at the feet of the devil. We feel that if we find a scapegoat for our sufferings, we will somehow discover some peace, or at least a little perspective for why our world has turned upside down.

The first reading for today’s Mass is taken from Daniel 3, the famous scene of the three young Hebrews in the fiery furnace in Babylon. This passage is only a portion of the longer prayer that Azariah – whose Hebrew name was originally Abednego before it was changed by the royal official (Dan. 1:7) – offered in the midst of the flames. Undoubtedly, Azariah and his companions also pondered and wondered “Why?” They, too, had plenty of people they could blame for their miseries: the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the corrupt Jewish leaders who allowed the people to be led into exile, or even the prophets who were more worried about personal profits rather than precise prophecies. And let’s not forget to blame the devil.

But who did Azariah see as the scapegoat who really was responsible: the Jewish people themselves. We read in Daniel 3:37: “For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.” Did you catch that last line – “because of our sins”? In other words, even though all these other forces in the world – Nebuchadnezzar, Jewish leaders, the poor prophets, even the devil – were the instruments of their woes (the how?), the ultimate cause of their crisis was their own sins (the why?). At the root of all sin is a refusal to trust God as a loving Father, and instead we put our faith in other things, in other persons, or even in ourselves. At the end of the day, the Babylonian Exile was caused by personal sin, and that is likewise the cause of all human misery.

Perhaps we can perceive the hand of Providence in the fact that this crisis has reached a pandemic point during the holy season of Lent. Every Lent the Church invites us to make a moral inventory, acknowledge our sins, and do penance. Put differently, Lent is a time to stop casting blame and aspersions on others for our problems – this year we can add the coronavirus to our list of woes – and accept personal responsibility. Again the underlying question every Lent is not “How do we have so many problems and pains?” That is a question for doctors and scientists to answer; the question of “instrumental causality.” Rather, Lent, like the fiery furnace of Babylon, invites us to answer the burning question, “Why has this crisis happened?” That is a question for philosophers and theologians; the question of “efficient causality.” Azariah was one of those ancient theologians and, knowing well the answer to why there’s human misery, he prayed: “We have been brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.” At root, personal sin is the ultimate cause of the coronavirus.

My friends, the Lent of 2020 will be a Lent we will never forget. And that is a good thing. Why? Our Lord is teaching us that the ultimate answer to the ultimate question “Why?” – especially when we struggle to make sense of suffering – is our own sins. Sin is the cause of suffering. That is a question and an answer we should never forget.

Praised be Jesus Christ!