In the middle of the pandemic, we experience uncertainties. We ask many questions but do not receive satisfactory answers. When will I get vaccinated? Will the vaccines be effective? When will this partial shut-down end? When can we freely travel? Will our life ever become like before after the pandemic? And so on.

Even under the pandemic, life goes on. Babies are born. Children grow. Couples get married. And the Elderly pass away. Shut-downs and lockdowns may freeze the economy but cannot stop life.

And here Lent comes again.

Lent reminds us of a much more important question. It is about life. The question asks not only about this life but also the life to come after this life.

‘Am I prepared to die and be raised with Christ Jesus?’

Practices of penance and reconciliation in this Lent will be in vain if we do not try to answer this question. Even if we find answers to all our questions regarding the pandemic, we will have wasted our time, unless we have worked on this question. Successful survival from this pandemic does not open the door to heaven. The purpose of our life does not lie in survival. Life is already lost unless it is heading toward life eternal.

Do death, judgment, heaven and hell sound remote and unreal? If they sound unfamiliar or irrelevant to us, we are likely not to be on the Way of Christ. Even if we pray, fast, and give alms, our faith is superficial and unsubstantial, unless we are constantly alert of those four things.

Let us awaken our spirits. It is time to be with Jesus.