The Archbishop of Westminster has admitted he struggles with the questions: "Where is God in all of this?" and "Why is God letting this happen."
But he said the Covid-19 crisis is not so much a case of God "letting this happen", but an event of the natural order that science, along with reason and faith, can help eventually to resolve.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols was speaking in a Youtube video call with the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
He admitted he struggled with the question: "Where is God in all of this?"
But he said it is an event of the natural order. "It poses the question of what should change in my way of life. What am I challenged to look at afresh?"
It is a "summons to all of us" to live "more closely to the crucial things" and not worry too much about the superficial. It is a challenge that has arisen out of the events of the world. Science will help solve it. Science, reason and faith working together will help to solve it.
He said: "That notion that with churches closed, the rootedness of faith now lies within each one of us, and within our family circle and the people with whom we are, as it were, shut it."
He continued: "My sense is, it's teaching us the deeper roots of our relationship with God. It's teaching us deeper roots of personal prayer. It's teaching us that while we might not be physically in touch with each other, there is a great bond of fellowship and of the Holy Spirit. There is something actually quite positive even, just beginning to emerge I think in this experience, painful as it is."
He also praised the value of connectivity at this time.
"What strikes me is that there is so much help emerging, especially on the internet, to help us all keep on track, as it were. I'm amazed at the creativity of so many groups and individuals. There's a kind of burgeoning of spirituality, a burgeoning of helping each other to pray." He said that Christians are benefiting hugely. "It is the house church of the early church combined with the technology of the 21st century. For once, the technology looks unambiguously positive."
He said no-one should underestimate how difficult it is for many people. In Archbishop's House, there is "plenty of room". Many families are in small spaces. "Do give your day a routine. Stick to a structure. But within that structure, give yourself a time of profound silence." It is from that silence that people can "tiptoe into God's presence" and a time of prayer. People must "not be afraid to sit quietly together and let God do the rest."
Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: "For us in the Jewish faith as I am sure it is for you, the absence of the house of prayer that has been right at the centre of our life of faith, presents for us a fresh challenge because we now really need to reconfigure the definition of community." He said that all members of the faith needed to appreciate that their homes must now become a "house of God".
He said he was finding that "God sustains us through the most difficult and challenging of times". He also said that often when people pray it is because they are "doing the right thing", or are in synagogue. Now, they are praying "for prayer's sake".
The community had not wanted the houses of prayer to be closed, but in the end accepted it was necessary to save lives.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby acknowledged that Christians have a lot to learn from the Jewish community, where the weekly Sabbath begins with an all-age family meal, led by the mother of the household, in the home. He said that early Christian communities also met in people's houses. In the end, Christians arrived at today's "strange place" where the building is seen as the church.
"What we will be learning from this is to recover the idea that the church is the people of God, regardless of whether they have a building, beautiful and wonderful as those buildings are." He said there was much good news amid the darkness. "There is so much to celebrate. People are wanting to be in touch with each other and most of all to be in touch with God."
The Tablet has a list of spiritual, liturgical and other online resources to help us all during these times. Isolated but not Alone is updated daily with live-stream Holy Mass, online prayer and meditation, reading and listening material, and more.
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