There are substantial similarities between leprosy in the ancient world and coronavirus today: contagion, long incubation period when infection is not perceived, social distancing as precautionary treatment to limit infection, great fear in the healthy community, isolation with realization of the disease, and possible death for the fragile.
My world is very different from what it was last week when I wrote for A Catholic Moment. Schools are closed for the next month. NCAA basketball tournaments have been canceled. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are closed to visitors. Literally everything in our parish is canceled except for mass or Word and Communion. Many safety measures are implemented around those, and Sunday mass attendance obligations are temporarily removed.
So, how do we respond? Today’s first reading gives us some simple wisdom.
The Story
Naaman was an army commander of the king of Aram-Damascus—an enemy of Israel. In a raid on the Israelites, a young girl had been captured and made to be a slave of Naaman’s wife. Then Naaman contracted leprosy. The Israeli slave girl knew of the power of God in his prophet Elisha. She told her mistress to tell Naaman to go to Israel and present himself to Elisha.
Naaman got permission from the king of Aram-Damascus to go. In fact, the king provided many expensive gifts to present to the king of Israel, so that he might be persuaded to let Elisha heal Naaman. Joram, the otherwise forgotten king of Israel, was greatly disturbed when Naaman showed up at his door. He saw leprosy as almost impossible to cure. He was afraid that Elisha could not cure Naaman, and then the king of Aram-Damascus would have reason to wage war on Israel.
Elisha, the prophet, sent word to Joram not to be afraid. He should send Naaman to him. When Naaman came to the prophet’s house, Elisha did not even come out to greet him. Instead, he sent word for Naaman to go wash 7 times in the Jordan River.
Naaman was angry at that directive: if washing in the river could cure leprosy, he could do that in the rivers of his homeland! At first, he refused to do it. But his servants reasoned with him, “If the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”
Naaman went and washed in the Jordan. His skin “became again like the flesh of a little child.” He went back to Joram and reported, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
Applications to Coronavirus: God Cares for His People through His People
Several applications for dealing with coronavirus today come to mind. All of them fit under an overarching theme: God cares for his people through his people. While Naaman’s cure was miraculous, the miracle depended on a lot of people acting in loving ways: the slave girl, Naaman’s wife, the kings of Aram and Israel, Elisha, Naaman’s servants, Naaman. If the “it takes a village” process had broken down at any point, there would have been no miracle. God’s goodness would not have happened.
There are also some specific applications that can help us.
Application One: It started with a little girl. It could start with you.
Dcn. Mike, in his homily Saturday night, quoted Bishop Sheen as saying, “God’s presence appears where you least expect it.” This story began with the thinking head and caring heart of a little slave girl. She could have minded her own business. She could have decided she was justified not to help this enemy owner who was probably responsible for carrying her away from her home and family. But she didn’t. She thought: what can I do? It wasn’t a lot. She just told Naaman’s wife that she knew someone whom she believed could cure him.
What can you do? People over 60 or who have some medical fragility are the most at risk for being devastated by the corona virus. These folks are encouraged to stay home. Who among your family, your friends, your neighbors fit that category? Make a list. Determine to call them every day or so to see if they are all right. Is there an errand you can run for them?
Application Two: Naaman washed in the Jordan seven times. Wash thoroughly.
It has taken several days for me to get myself committed to thorough washing—of hands, of items touched by others in public places, of surfaces within my own home. But I read that coronavirus can live on plastic 3 days. I have loved (and implemented) what I have seen on Twitter. Wash hands the Catholic way: say an “Our Father” for those who are sick as you do it. I’ve found out I do not typically wash my hands anything like long enough. And saying an Our Father helps me regularly keep the needs of others in the forefront of my mind. I need to not be like Naaman almost was: I need not disdain the importance of the simple act of thorough washing.
It is said that during the epidemics of bubonic plague in Europe, people noticed that Jews did not get the plague as much as Christians did. Scholars today say the reason was that God took care of them by putting rules in the Law about washing hands and utensils. Let us keep that practical law (now given by health officials).
Know and follow other common sense health directives.
Application Three: “There is no God but the God of Israel.” Recognize God is bigger than any mountain that you can or cannot see. Pray!
A couple of weeks ago Pope Francis had an ordinary cold. In contrast to his normal inclination to keep a busy schedule, he canceled public appearances. He set an example to stay in, care for yourself, and minimize the likelihood you may infect others.
On the other hand, when public officials closed churches, last Friday Pope Francis asked them to lift the ban on open churches for prayer so people could go to church to pray. He is encouraging priests to get out to visit the sick with the Sacrament of the Sick and Last Rites.
Pope Francis has also written a prayer to Our Lady, Health of the Sick for coronavirus victims. It is the prayer at the end of this reflection.
Application Four: As with Naaman, be community to those at risk or affected.
Lots of people played a role in God taking care of Naaman. About 20% of the families in our parish have a member who is age 75 or over. Many of them live alone. Many of them have no local children to run errands or check on them each day.
I suspect that at least one-third of our parish (that would be about 600 people!) is over the age of 60—the age health officials say creates increased risk from coronavirus. People over 60 are encouraged to stay in.
We are developing a team to call people age 70 and over. We will check to see who needs telephone check ins every day or two. We will collect information about who to call if we get no answer one day. Then we can organize parishioners to each regularly call 5 or 10 people who need these check ins through this crisis period.
We will be the hands and feet of Christ as community.
You might want to join efforts in your parish…or start them.
Prayer (by Pope Francis)
O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.
At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus’ pain, with steadfast faith. You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need. We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform ourselves to the Father’s will and to do what Jesus tells us: He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to bring us, through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection. Amen.
We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our pleas – we who are put to the test – and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
