We are all spending a lot of time in our inner rooms these days. Perhaps too much time. I for one would rather be spending more time in the churches/synagogues and on the street corners, perhaps armed with a prophetic mantle and accompanied by a vision of flaming horses and chariots. Now THAT would impress the skeptics!

Yet this gospel resonates in a deeper way for me during this time of COVID-19. This “new normal” remains deeply disorienting; I miss the rhythms of communal Mass and regular sacramental practice. I want to be out and about, engaging my church community, eating in restaurants, teaching my students, visiting my relatives, or even protesting without fear of crowd contagion. And I grapple with the creeping realization that the “way I used to know” is permanently consigned to the dustbin of history. Our medium-term future appears to be one of public masks, social distancing, and lots of time in our inner rooms. As much as I am comforted by my 7-year-old daughter’s recent comments to my wife – “We can find Jesus anywhere!” – I find myself wanting to seek Jesus outside my living room.

And this desire in itself is good. Jesus is not calling us in today’s gospel to consign our prayer and practice to the domestic sphere. This would make no sense for disciples called earlier in the Sermon on the Mount to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). Rather, the deeper challenge of today’s gospel is the demand to reevaluate our motives. Why do we pray, fast, give alms, or perform other righteous deeds? Public affirmation? Religious obligation? Therapeutic sentimentalism? Proving something to ourselves? Communion with God? Love of neighbor? If you’re like me, the honest answer is likely a combination of these and many other factors.

So without downplaying its economic costs, physical suffering, and social isolation, this time of COVID offers an opportunity. As a friend said recently, “I am thrown back on prayer right now.” It is in this deeper prayer that we can emerge with a more honest understanding of ourselves and our motivations. For, like Elisha, we too will be asked to cross back over the Jordan. May we use this time to prepare well.