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In this Easter season, as I go back and forth in my life between the hospital and my home -- all while keeping my social distance -- I continue to be amazed by the great response that the American public has taken in regards to social distancing, staying home, washing their hands and doing their best to keep themselves and their neighbors safe.

Since my local Catholic church is closed, I have not been able to attend mass.

Every night I try to read passages from the Bible to keep my spirits in the moment.

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As I read some passages from the Bible, I began to wonder where this coronavirus pandemic fits into the big picture.

I have read in certain blogs on the Internet that many people see this coronavirus as a sign of the end times. They believe that this plague is a fatalistic message from God.

I am looking forward to Easter Sunday as a new beginning with a clear understanding and faith.

But I don’t see it that way. I see it as a new beginning.

What have we learned from this pandemic?

We’ve learned that hygiene is important. That keeping ourselves and the spaces where we live and work clean is important.

We’ve also learned that God-given human ingenuity and creativity can bring possible changes to our society and in many ways work to prevent disease.

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The Bible teaches us that God gave us our bodies to nourish, protect and to serve as a living example of His love.

As I thought about this I tried to look for passages in the Bible that talked about such a thing.

I found many quotes in Leviticus that talked about bathing and clothes washing, and in Deuteronomy, we find warnings about keeping human waste from designated areas. There are chapters in Leviticus and Numbers which explain the dire effects of touching a dead body.

So you see God’s laws have always been there. They cover hygiene, quarantine, hints of contaminated food and water and the effects of unsanitary conditions.

Reading these things in the Bible gives me hope.

I am looking forward to Easter Sunday as a new beginning with a clear understanding and faith.

Perhaps all the sacrifices and the pain we have seen during this terrible pandemic are a prompt to point us to the fact that God’s message has always been there.

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We just needed a reminder to understand and follow those messages more clearly.

God Bless you and your families!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DR. MANNY ALVAREZ