Question: Fr David P.

The novel, the Plague of Albert Camus takes place in a city of Oran which becomes “the perfect ‘anywhere’ for “the historically unthinkable to happen.” According to him priests “have placed everything in God’s care.” Have these statements of Camus any relevance to the virus pandemic we are currently facing?

Answer: Jacob Parappally MSFS

Most of the imaginary events narrated in his novel the Plague by Albert Camus about the plague in the Algerian city of Oran and the response to the plague by the people of Oran, the government officials, doctors, volunteers, journalists, religious leaders, business people have surprising similarities with the response to the virus pandemic we are currently facing. The slowness of the people of Oran in becoming aware of the seriousness of the epidemic, the initial indifference of the government authorities and then sudden declaration to quarantine the entire city closing its gates preventing anyone to go out or come in, enforcing strict sanitation measures, the possibility of bribing the officials to get favours during the lock down, committed doctors like Dr.Rieux and the volunteers, unscrupulous businessmen considering the epidemic as a blessing, massive unemployment and misery of the people, using tambourines to make sound and lighting candles to fight against the epidemic, searching for past prophetic predictions or soothsaying about the arrival of the epidemic and the preaching of religious leaders like Father Paneloux giving a religious interpretation to the epidemic etc. have surprising parallels in the present situation of our country fighting with the pandemic. These striking similarities may be coincidental. La Peste orthe Plague was published in 1947 by Camus and probably the main character, Dr Rieux is Camus himself.

Vulnerability of Humans
There is no perfect place anywhere in the world. Humans are vulnerable anywhere and anytime. Maybe one carries death with oneself in this world more than one’s life. According to world-history in the 14th century the Black Death killed 50 million people in Europe. In 1629 the Italian Plague killed 280,000 people. In 1665-1666 the great Plague of England killed 68,596 people and more than 1 lakh suffered the consequences of it and in 18th and 19th centuries plagues killed thousands in the cities of China. From time to time the world faces such epidemics locally and when it is widespread in the world it is called pandemic. The novel, the Plague has the historical plagues as its background. It is also suggested that the metaphor of plague used by Camus refers to the Nazi occupation of France. But the metaphor of the plague appears to be appropriate for the situation of the world in which we are! One of the characters in this novel expresses what seems to be the affirmation of Camus: “Everyone has inside it himself this plague, because no one in the world, no one can ever be immune”. With existential philosophical vision, probably, he wants to present the absurdity of human existence and also the paradoxical existential situation in which every human being struggles to find some meaning for life in the world!

The city of Oran which is affected by the plague can be interpreted as a symbol of this world which is plagued with so many complex problems, difficulties, struggles, wars, sicknesses, pains and irrational and immoral behaviour, attitudes, actions, religious belief, superstitions etc. Religious faith tries to make some meaning for life in this absurd world. However, one finds that some manipulate religious faith and some others deny faith and also some have a reasonable faith. Yet there is room for humanness and compassion, empathy and decency. The novel presents also characters who hold the view that only what falls under the scrutiny of reason and scientific evidence is real and the rest are the creations of fertile human imagination. However, we can say that the answer to the ultimate questions about life, namely, the true identity of humans and the ultimate destiny of their life do not fall under rational and scientific scrutiny. It is trans-rational. As the answer to the ultimate questions about life is beyond human reason it is also possible that it can easily be manipulated by the unscrupulous to quarantine the minds of the uncritical and gullible to their own advantage. Sometimes even the sublime and sacred religious truths are manipulated by some for their private benefits. The absurdity of it all is that the rationalists’ conclusionsare not sufficient and the believers’ faith is not often reasonable enough to answer the ultimate questions about life.

Danger of  Spiritualization of  a Pandemic
While Dr Rieux,, the main character in the novel seems to represent the ideology of rationalistic humanism in the face of the plague and reaches out to save the lives of those affected and considers that it is enough, Father Paneloux who is intelligent and committed to his faith gives a spiritual interpretation of the plague epidemic first as a punishment from God and then as the will of God. Both are typical Christian traditional answer to the situation of misery and misfortune encountered by humans in this world. Father Paneloux preaches that God is compassionate and loving but the indifference of human beings to Him and to His love so provoked God that He punishes the people of Oran through the plague. He told the Catholic believers,”Calamity has come on you, my brethren, and, my brethren, you deserved it.” Then, after narrating how God punished Pharaoh at the time of Exodus and brought him to his knees through pestilence, Father Paneloux said, “Thus from the dawn of recorded history the scourge of God has humbled the proud of heart and laid low those who hardened themselves against Him. Ponder this well, my friends, and fall on your knees.” Further he said, “If today the plague is in your midst that is because the hour has struck for taking thought. The just man need have no fear, but the evildoer has good cause to tremble. For plague is the flail of God… For a long while God gazed down on this town with eyes of compassion; but He grew weary of waiting, His eternal hope was too long deferred, and now He has turned His face away from us. And so, God’s light withdrawn, we walk in darkness, in the thick darkness of this plague…. No earthly power, nay, not even, mark me well, the vaunted might of human science can avail you to avert that hand once it is stretched toward you.”Thus a spiritualization of the terrible epidemic as a punishment of God is an easy answer to the puzzling question about its cause but it goes against the revelation of a compassionate God through Jesus Christ.

Beyond  Spiritualization and Rationalization of Pandemic
The problem of evil challenges one’s belief in an absolutely good and compassionate God. Father Paneloux believed in the beginning of the plague that it was a punishment of God to teach people about the need to repent and come back to him to experience his love. So he preached that this evil plague is a punishment for the transgressions of people. But he changes his understanding of God and the evil of plague after the death of an innocent child in the city of Oran in spite of getting medical help as well as his prayer to God to save its life. Father Paneloux does not preach again about a punishing God but about human incomprehensibility about the mystery of evil. Like Job of Old Testament Father Paneloux submits to the will of God which remains beyond human understanding. He affirmed, “My brothers, a time of testing has come for us all. We must believe everything or deny everything. And who among you, I ask, would dare to deny everything?” In fact, ‘the Christian should yield himself wholly to the divine will, even though it passed his understanding.’ Concluding his sermon Father Paneloux said, “the love of God is a hard love. It demands total self-surrender, disdain of our human personality. And yet it alone can reconcile us to suffering and the deaths of children, it alone can justify them, since we cannot understand them, and we can only make God’s will ours. That is the hard lesson I would share with you today. That is the faith, cruel in men’s eyes, and crucial in God’s, which we must ever strive to compass”.

Father Paneloux recognized the danger of spiritualization and the meaninglessness of the traditional preaching about the misery and death of people affected by the epidemic as a punishment of God. It goes against the fundamental Christian faith in a loving and compassionate God. Such an understanding of God cannot explain the suffering of innocent people and children either. How would one face the reality of plague? One must trust in God and take all necessary precautions. Father Paneloux tells his people, “There was no question of not taking precautions or failing to comply with the orders wisely promulgated for the public weal in the disorders of a pestilence. Nor should we listen to certain moralists who told us to sink on our knees and give up the struggle. No, we should go forward, groping our way through the darkness, stumbling perhaps at times, and try to do what good lay in our power. As for the rest, we must hold fast, trusting in the divine goodness, even as to the deaths of little children, and not seeking personal respite.” He comes to the conclusion that to understand why innocent persons like children suffer one needs grace.

Responding to this Dr.Rieux, who has no faith in God but committed to his duty of serving people as a medical doctor spoke from his depths, “It’s something I haven’t got; that I know. But I’d rather not discuss that with you. We’re working side by side for something that unites us, beyond blasphemy and prayers. And it’s the only thing that matters.”

The mystery of life is simply beyond reason and faith! While death is the most certain reality for a person, a life beyond death is a matter of faith which gives meaning and hope to those who surrender themselves to God as Father Panelouxdid even in the last moment of his life and it was shown on his face. Dr Rieux noticed that therewas serenityon his face as Father Paneloux died. One who believes, as Paul, says whether alive or dead, he or she is in Christ.

In the context of the global Pandemic COVID 19, the novel of Camus reminds us of the vulnerability of our life, the questions we raise about life and death and the role of religion in making sense out of this apparently meaningless tragedy. Thousands are killed in wars and terrorists attacks and nature’s fury comes to fore at times through epidemics or pandemics. The first may remain as a permanent pandemic while the second can be overcome. With certain preventive and curative measures we can overcome the pandemic with the right use of human reason in finding solutions including the appropriate vaccines. One need not take any extreme precautions out of fear. One should be aware of those who are affected by the evil virus of inhumanity that they use the infection to destroy others as narrated in the novel. We should also not let ourselves be deceived by the preaching of a punishing God or a God who brings misery to humans. God revealed through Jesus Christ suffers when humans suffer and brings fullness of life to those who trust in this God who is absolute love and communion! We should do our best in all situations of our life good or bad and the leave the rest to God!