Sorry if the question is dumb
No, it is not a dumb question. What we are experiencing is not, to me, frightening; but it is really, really serious. The virus is highly contagious; it is deadly to those who have compromised immune systems and to the elderly, particularly those in poor health; and it is not giving a “free pass” to those in their 20’s, up to their 50’s as a few in that age bracket have died and others have needed up hospitalized.
You and I might be watching different sources of the news, because some of the changes in the last few days have been fairly serious in terms of jumps in numbers.
God hears our prayers; but history also shows that a whole lot of people can be saying a whole lot of prayers, and events (Spanish flu; the last two world wars) seem to not respond to the prayers.
My take, for whatever it is worth, is that God has many answers, among them “no”, “not now” “not in this way” and variations on that. God also set the world in motion, and whether we take the sin of Adam and Eve as also giving us a broken world, or that the world was set in motion outside that context, and with certain in-built weaknesses (e.g. susceptibility to bacterial and viral influences) as part of a plan we do not necessarily see clearly (meaning “why”), the point is that He does answer our prayers in time.
Don’t stop praying. One of the Knights in my parish sent a text, as he was requested to say 1 Hail Mary, and then ask 10 others to do so, and in turn request 10. That moves out exponentially. We are seeking an end to this chaos. It will come, in God’s time, not ours.
Some see a chastisement. I don’t think in those terms - which does not mean that I do not question what this means to me and to others.
I don’t see God as a vengeful God (and yes, I am well aware of such images in the Scriptures). Jesus referred to the Father as Abba - which language-wise is the equivalent of “Pappa”. A “Pappa” does not slaughter thousands, or millions, to “teach us a lesson”. He tries to protect us, but just as I tried to protect my children, I knew they would have troubles, tough times, make bad decisions, and have others around them who made bad decisions which impacted my kids. So also “Pappa” wants what is best for us; and we live in a broken world which inflicts all sorts of misery; however, we are not meant for this world alone.
And that is the ultimate “yes” from God.
