RESURRECTION – CHRIST, The Titanic, & A Virus

TERESITA TANSECO-CRUZ

“God himself could not sink this ship.”

Those words were infamously declared about the RMS Titanic, supposedly by a crewman to a boarding passenger. The impression, though, that this majestic, expertly-engineered vessel of luxury and opulence was unsinkable was fostered by statements attributed to its owners. The crewman’s words just provided drama, later intensified, thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

In one tragic reckoning, man’s pride and boastfulness over having produced something perfect and invincible was literally brought down to the bottom of the ocean. The RMS Titanic sank on its first outing, taking the lives of more than 1500 of its passengers.

Today the same human pride and sense of power show up absurdly and alarmingly in countless vessels of impressive “progress.” At our clicking fingertips, we have the pleasures of information technology in all imaginable forms—new inventions and money fuel all sorts of self-indulgence. Economic success and/or political clout lead many to believe in their ability to control and influence the world around them.

I would be the last to question the laudable value of technology as it improves the quality of life for all of us. But when achievements lead to glorifying the mind and the excesses, the intoxicating and addicting self-gratification that its inventions continuously breed, then something is terribly amiss.

Along comes COVID -19.

This tiny unseen enemy lurks everywhere, striking anyone and anywhere it pleases. This time it is nobody’s “creation,” but suddenly here again is a reckoning as we are brought down to our knees, scrambling to stem the tide of devastation. Amidst sickness and death and grief and anxiety wrought globally by this gigantic little virus, we look for meanings and messages to help us prevail with courage and hope. And already, we have been deeply heartened and astounded at how the virus’ jarring assault has brought out the best in us, in no small measure.

But I would like to go back for a moment to what I believe is the real and vicious enemy, constantly determined to attack precisely the best of ourselves. It is not a humongous iceberg or a minuscule virus, but one that has continuously, insidiously controlled man into thinking that he’s the great hotshot who is in control. The triumphs of this adversary have brought about historic tragedies going back to Biblical times. And… it has a sneaky ally inside every one of us, cleverly posing as harmless, deserved entitlements, called Ego. ( I know this pathogen excruciatingly well). The enemy’s name is ARROGANCE.

ARROGANCE makes a person bow to earthly gods or acts as though he is himself a god of some sort. It brushes God aside with a haughty “ I don’t need you to run my ship. I got this!” It is an illness that flatters the mind and fattens the Ego and can devour the spirit, leaving only a soul-less body strutting about.

Yet inside us, too, dwells the very antidote to this fatal affliction of the Ego: HUMILITY. To activate it, we need only to open our mind and heart to God, acknowledging Him to be exactly who He is: the Supreme Being.

It means that after all is said and done, we know that He, not we, moves the world as it should be moved. It means depending on Him to give us His LOVE, MERCY, and the kind of joy no earthly indulgence or pleasure can ever imitate, much less deliver. It calls for our prayers, continually asking Him to sustain us and thanking Him unceasingly for it.

It’s a basic decision: to succumb to the deadly disease of ARROGANCE and perish, or to take that healing antidote HUMILITY within us, and live.

If Covid has currently imposed social distancing on us, maybe it can teach us a lesson or two on Ego Distancing.

During this life-altering, humbling time of a staggering pandemic, we have had to let go of so much that we have taken for granted. Smugness, complacency, dominance forced out the window by uncertainty, anxiety, and a painful dose of helplessness. The Titanic keeps flashing in my head. I believe I see its short-lived spectacle and tragic, abrupt ending as a graphic “snapshot” example of man’s pride and downfall. But the Titanic wreck, languishing sadly at the bottom of the North Atlantic, and its accompanying loss of lives, need not lose meaning. Perhaps we, in our shared humanity, can continue to resurrect from the ship’s intangible remains, a transformed vessel of HUMILITY to rise and break through the glorious surface so that we may sail it onward to a new day.

After writing this reflection, I discovered that April 15 was the day of the Titanic disaster, 108 years ago. And this piece has been assigned for posting on Holy Saturday,  April 11, 2020.

I believe that rather than mere timing or coincidence, it is God’s loving reminder that deliverance from all ills and drowning lies in THE RESURRECTION. In love, faith, and hope, may we trust unwaveringly our Savior, the RISEN CHRIST, to raise us from the depths of our brokenness and lead us – humble and grateful, to a joyful, eternal Easter. 

HALLELUJAH!