By Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, SJ
Do not put the Lord your God to the test [Luke: 4-12]
I know a couple who will soon be married. I will call them Mary and John. The bride is Catholic. With great joy, they prepared for their big day before Covid-19.
We all now know what has happened in the last two years. In the past year and a half, they struggled to adjust and re-adjust the guest list to comply with fluctuating restrictions on the number of people that could be accommodated in church and hotel. We can only imagine the frustration they are experiencing because, when they began preparing for the wedding, the church could still accommodate a limited number of guests, but now the church is temporarily closed, and guests are not permitted in.
At the end of last year, the hotel informed them that the reception could not be postponed past the first quarter of 2022! Just as they were about to finalize their guest list, the fifth wave of the pandemic outbreak struck! Due to the existing restrictions on evening dine-in services, holding a seated wedding reception became impossible.
How will we respond to situations like this? We can be angry and even blame God for not stopping this pandemic! However, after discussing the matter with the hotel, John and Mary proposed to have the food intended for their reception packed for distribution to the poor. Wherever possible, they asked that the raw ingredients be sent directly to Church-sponsored and non-Church-sponsored charities that offer care to the poor, the elderly, the fragile and the homeless!
When we are disappointed, we either ask God why he is letting us suffer or why he does not answer our prayers!
The Gospel reading for this week says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” This is significant, as our response depends on our choice. We may choose to dump all the food in a fury or argue with the hotel and then complain to the manager. As a result, after venting our anger, we are still frustrated!
We know that God prepares the best for us. It is the pandemic that has narrowed our horizons. We do not know when the pandemic will end, but we can turn bad into good.
I pray that the pandemic will eventually be filled with blessings disguised by tragedy. I also wish John and Mary and other soon to-be-weds and couples that have had a similar experience in the past two years can overcome the hurdles standing their way and look forward to a happy future
