Year of Saint Joseph | March 27-28, 2021: PALM SUNDAY |75th Anniversary Year

True stories: The pandemic brought a huge faith boost for many

God always finds his ways to make a "silver lining."

The pandemic changed my life for the better. Did it do the same for you?

St. Augustine said God “would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself,” and from the suffering, death, isolation, and unemployment the pandemic brought, it seems he has outdone himself.

Pew Research reported in January that in America “Nearly 3 in 10 U.S. adults say the outbreak has boosted their faith,” and “about 4 in 10 say it has tightened family bonds.”

This certainly happened to me. I felt gripped by God’s love and compelled to do more with my time and go deeper in my faith after both my own coronavirus infection and witnessing the incredible power of prayer at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

In my case this led to a rediscovery of Scripture, through Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz. One mom told me the same thing happened to her.

“Bishop Robert Barron has played a huge role for me too,” said Alexa Paul, in the Washington, D.C., area. She also “read a chapter of St. Paul’s letters every day with one of my sisters and we reflected on it together” through video chat.

You know this is from the Holy Spirit because a huge number of people rediscovered Scripture during the pandemic.

“Right now I’m doing Fr. Mike’s Bible in a Year podcast as well,” she said. “All these Old Testament readings are kind of killing me, but I’ve never read the entire Bible. There’s also a different experience to hearing it every day rather than just reading it.”

Tom Hoopes – Aleteia, 22/3/21

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