Last Friday on a bleak and wet evening, Pope Francis stood all alone in St. Peter’s Square. He was a solitary figure in white where normally tens of thousands of pilgrims gather. He reflected on the story from the gospel of Mark when the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee, a storm swamping the boat, and it was night. Jesus was asleep in the stern. “How can you sleep?” the disciples cried. “Don’t you care that we are drowning?”

Pope Francis said that we are like the disciples in the storm at sea. “Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air, we notice in people’s gestures, their glances give them away. We find ourselves afraid and lost. Like the disciples in the Gospel we were caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm.” https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-03/urbi-et-orbi-pope-coronavirus-prayer-blessing.html 

I called some elderly parishioners to check on them. I asked what they wanted to pray for. Some asked for prayers for health. Some asked prayers for their family. Surprisingly, many asked, “For our nation.” That’s how big this is.

For this Lent, my first Lent as pastor of Nativity, we had taken to heart the call to conversion. I called it “Extreme Makeover: Faith Edition.” It was modeled on the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition TV series. Each episode features a family that has faced some sort of recent or ongoing hardship such as a natural disaster or a family member with a life-threatening illness, in need of new hope. The show has helped families of veterans, single parents, and families with children who had illnesses ranging from childhood cancers to HIV/AIDS, as well as children with mental illnesses and disabilities such as autism. Other instances included families who had either lost loved ones or had loved ones injured in car accidents (including alcohol-related incidents), domestic violence, gang-related crimes and drug abuse. Every episode advocated awareness of such problems. 

The show's producers coordinate with a local construction contractor for a makeover of the family's home. This includes interior, exterior and landscaping, performed in seven days while the family is on vacation (paid for by the show's producers) and documented in the episode. If the house is beyond repair, they replace it entirely. The show's producers and crew film set and perform the makeover but do not pay for it. The materials and labor are donated. Many skilled and unskilled volunteers assist in the rapid construction of the house. 

The family returns from the vacation. For the reveal moment, a bus blocks their view of their home. The volunteers chant “Move that Bus!” The family enters their new home with tears of joy and laughter. The heart of the show is that

1. The family and house were in great need of an extreme makeover

2. The Makeover was done by someone else at no cost to the family

3. The Makeover makes the home better than new

Extreme Makeover: Faith Edition for Lent followed the same idea. 

1. You and I are in great need of an extreme makeover

2. The Makeover is done by the Lord at no cost to us

3. The Makeover makes us better than new

Lent began with the words from Ash Wednesday, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” These are words of conversion, an extreme makeover. We are to repent of our sins and believe in the mercy of God.

When we started Lent five weeks ago, I had no idea that the Lord had bigger plans. Call it “Extreme Makeover: World Edition.” 

We know that many people get sick and some even die because of the coronavirus. The sickness and death have a clear cause, the virus. The way to overcome the virus is social distancing, wash hands, sanitize, and ultimately a vaccine. 

Just as the virus causes physical suffering and even death, sin causes spiritual suffering and even death. In tomorrow’s faith reflection, I’ll talk about the way to overcome sin. But for now, imagine if I had told you for Lent, to give up your spring break cruise to the Bahamas. You would have laughed. “Dream on!” If I had wagged a finger from the ambo and said, no clubbing, no bars, no travel sports, no games, no dinner at the Olive Garden, you would have said, “Father we are not monks, we have to live. Get real!”

Now with all our normal activity suspended, we have the gift of time to repent of our sins. The pandemic has made official what we have been doing all along, isolating ourselves from one another

Pope Francis said Friday evening, this is “a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with the Lord and with others.”

Repent.

In Christ,

Father David