Scott Hahn Offers Divine Hope For COVID Pandemic: "Hold Up The Light of the Body of Christ"

This is so inspiring! 🙌

Catholic theologian Scott Hahn recently spoke with ChurchPOP English editor Jacqueline Burkepile about his latest book, Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body.

The founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology provides hope, especially during this coronavirus pandemic. He explains why we should not fear of death, and touches on God’s presence during this time of crisis.

“The greatest miracle that Christ could do is not simply to help us discover a vaccine and a cure, but to cure us of our own disordered fear of suffering and dying. This disordered fear of losing natural life, when in fact, what we ought to fear the loss of supernatural life.

“We ought to fear offending God our loving Father, more than offending my flesh and its appetites,” Hahn said.

He also explains how his family came together during this time, “knitting their hearts together,” as three of his children (two of whom are seminarians studying for the priesthood) quarantine in their home.

“‘This was divinely timed. This was a providential project,” Hahn said of his new book.

“Hebrews 2:15: It was through accepting death and transforming death…it was through that Jesus basically conquered the one with power of death (the devil) and He delivers us, who with fear of death, was subject to lifelong bondage to the devil.”

“All the mysteries of faith really add up to one mystery and it’s something that’s in our bodies through baptism and Holy Communion. An exciting time for us as we are sort of absent from the sacraments.”

Here’s the full interview below:

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“When I was a kid back in high school there was a song by Joni Mitchell called, ‘Big Yellow Taxi.’ There was a line in it that said, ‘You don’t know what you got until it’s gone.’ How often have we taken the Eucharist for granted?”

“I’ve been talking about the need to create Eucharistic amazement ever since that Pew Research study saying that only 30 percent of Catholics believe in the Real Presence. What a good way for Our Lord to prepare us to return to the faith–to renew our own conviction!”

“I think a lot of us are bewildered by what’s going on. Even if people saw it coming in January or February, nobody could really know what to expect. For the whole world to enter into a pandemic–for there to be a global shutdown–we are in the middle of history.”

“The thing that I believe is that we’ve got rock-solid grounds for hope, and we’ve got to seize it. We’ve also got solid grounds for fear, sadness, anger, anxiety, depression–you can hear in the news all about domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, and all of the things people are plunging themselves into.

“And you realize, when the light shines into the dark, it shines brighter, but it also reveals just how deep the darkness can be. For us, right now, we’ve got to hold up the light of the Body of Christ and the body that he has given us in the Eucharist and the body of ours that he will resurrect.”

“It amazes me to see how much Good News God brings out of the worst.”

Scott Hahn’s book is now available for purchase through St. Paul Center.