"Dear brothers and sisters, in the time of trial that we are presently undergoing, we too, like Thomas, with our fears and our doubts, have experienced our frailty. We need the Lord, who sees beyond that frailty an irrepressible beauty. With him we rediscover how precious we are even in our vulnerability. We discover that we are like beautiful crystals, fragile and at the same time precious. And if, like crystal, we are transparent before him, his light – the light of mercy – will shine in us and through us in the world. As the Letter of Peter said, this is a reason for being 'filled with joy, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials” (1 Pt 1:6)." (Pope Francis)

What is God reminding us of at this time and through this pandemic? That we are precious in his eyes, no matter what we do or what happens to us. This is a mystery! God sees us as we truly are: his adopted, precious sons and daughters. In spite of our frailty and sins, he sees the true person that we are and can be with his grace. We can accept and embrace this mystery or we can see ourselves through our imperfect, negative eyes. 

It reminds me of a story. An eagle's egg was found by some hens and they brought it to birth. As the baby eagle grew with the other chickens, it learned to act as a chicken. One day it saw an eagle soaring above and something within longed to be like that eagle. But it resigned itself to be a chicken instead. How often we do the same. We settle for our view of life rather than embrace the truth of Jesus' revelation of who we really are and whose we are.