This past week, many of us have followed with fixed attention the arrival of the ebola virus in the United States. Up until now, if we have heard of it at all, we would have perhaps conceived of it as a terrible disease afflicting people in a part of the world that we are likely never to visit.

But with the arrival in our country of a visitor from Africa who had already contracted the disease and its spread to two health care workers, what once seemed to be something bad that could never happen here has become very real.

Because we should always try to see our world through the eyes of faith, we might ask what lessons we can learn from this outbreak of ebola. I think there are several.

First, in our country and in the developed countries of Europe and North America, the modern movement toward secularism and the exclusion of God is coupled with a distorted sense of man-centered optimism. There is a belief that mankind is capable of making such progress, especially through advances in science and medicine, that the world will ultimately be under our control. Through humanity’s own ingenuity and efforts, it is suggested that we will eventually root out pain, suffering and injustice and so end up with a more perfect world.

But the reality of a deadly and mysterious disease, with a mortality rate of between 50 percent and 70 percent, is a reminder that we live in creation that is not ours to control. In faith we see the beauty of creation coming from God’s hand as well as the brokenness of this world resulting from our sinfulness. Together, they are a reminder for us to be humble, to recall our rightful need to praise God and to seek His help. Even a deadly disease can help to remind us of our passing and fragile existence in this world and the offer of eternal life that God has given us through His Son.

A second lesson is a reflection on human solidarity. We are all children of our heavenly Father. Whether we live in Africa or northern Illinois, or any place in between, every person is made in God’s image. That means that we need to be concerned for our suffering brothers and sisters who have contracted this terrible disease. How impressive and inspirational it is to read the stories of people who are volunteering to make the sacrifice and even take the personal risk of helping those suffering so terribly from ebola.  Every person stricken, helpless or in pain merits our concern, our love and our prayers.

Finally, because we are made of both body and soul, a disease like ebola highlights our need to care for both. In our bodies, the disease is caused by a virus. We cannot see the virus, but we can observe its effects.

When one person contracts it, others around him or her become vulnerable. The body of the person who contracts the virus grows progressively weaker, increasingly unable to defend itself against the ravages of the disease.

Only by following specific protocols, rules of conduct if you will, about how to interact with each other, how to dress, how to bathe and how to limit the spread of the virus, can the disease be arrested. Mere good intentions separated from the truth are not sufficient. Care must be taken to do the right thing.

Spiritually, we must be likewise attentive to the health of our souls. The equivalent of a virus is sin and untruth. If we do not nourish our spirits with regular and daily prayer as well as Mass and the worthy reception of the Bread of Life, they begin to grow sluggish and uncaring. Small sins become big sins. The loss of spiritual health in one threatens to weaken and infect others.

As our spirits weaken, the sacrament of confession, with its power to cure our illness is received less frequently and becomes more difficult. In one sense, like a virus, sin and untruth cannot be seen. But like the virus, their effects are devastating and unmistakable. Our moral conduct guided by faith in Christ and His Church are our specific protocols.

Please continue to pray for all of those, especially in Africa, who are suffering from this most recent outbreak. Pray also for all of those who seek to minister to the sick and dying. Finally, pray as well for your own spiritual health and that of your loved ones and all of those around you.

One way or another we will leave this earth. But the health of our souls is for eternity.