By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy

Panaji, March 18, 2020: As we battle COVID-19, a coronavirus form, I am reminded of the First World War. People struggled in many ways during those years. Food was scarce.

Our first sisters were also in the same situation. Our founder Blessed James Alberione struggled to feed the teenage boys and girls who had surrounded him, believing in his new mission.

Some young men from the group were called to the battlefield and Alberione was in pain anxiety. He pleaded with God to keep them safe.

He made a promise that if his boys would return safely and none of his group was hurt, he would build a church dedicated to the Blessed Mother.

The war was over. All the boys returned. All were safe although poverty reigned everywhere.

In an opportune moment he informed the members of his decision to build the church. They were amazed. “How can it be that we build a church when we have nothing even to eat.”

Alberione was firm. He trusted God. He began the work and help poured from different quarters.

Today the Shrine of Queen of the Apostles in Rome remains tall and majestic surrounded by three congregations of the Pauline Family.

At the outbreak of COVID-19 our Mother General Sister Anna Caiazza has sent out a prayer of protection addressed to our Blessed Mother. We have members spread around the world. In Italy our houses are closed for outsiders following the norm issued by the government. She reminded us of the trust of our founder in God.

One thing is certain God will never abandon the one who falls at his feet in hope and humility.

We had gathered together in our present community to pray for the world for relief from the new virus. The young priest said as he began the Eucharist, “Let us pray, and let us also repent for our sins.”

That led me to remember our founder again. He often sent his boys to chapel to pray and to make confession when something went wrong in the press with machines, or when they lacked sufficient food or money, or someone fell ill.

He believed that when we are reconciled with God things will fall in line, God’s blessing will pour out on us.

Let us thank God like Daniel even in this adverse situation prevailing in the world. Let us seek God’s forgiveness for the world and for ourselves as James Alberione.

Gratitude brings in blessings. So too an attitude of repentance and forgiveness.

“Great and awesome God” (Daniel 9:4). This is how Daniel began the prayer of repentance. Strange as it may seem, Daniel proclaims God’s love, before he starts confessing his sins and the sins of the people.

We see in Daniel a total trust in God’s mercy and love. He had experienced God’s love in his life, time and again. He recalled, how God had raised him through the ranks of a Gentile Kingdom; God saved him from the lion’s den; God saved him from a conspiracy to have him killed and from a horrible, fiery furnace.

God was on Daniel’s side! And Daniel placed his life in the hands of his ever loving God.

Our lives take a different course when we know we have a loving Father in heaven; a God who constantly walks with us, walks beside us. Nothing can stop us in our life when we know God is holding our hands. On our part we have to be prudent and wise too.

(Sister Lissy Maruthanakuzhy is a member of the Daughters of St Paul based in Panaji, Goa. She writes for Matters India, Global Sisters Report and a few other publications.)