“Heart and Soul”
We are marked as ‘Christ’s own forever’ and in our life’s journey, however complicated, we walk with our Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.
For people of faith, a threat of any kind, be it war, or a natural disaster or a global pandemic, or a more personal challenge, our response is to care for one another and to engage in prayer. At this time, in the Lenten wilderness of 2020, when gatherings of all kinds have been cancelled for the protection of the most vulnerable in our society, we ‘keep the faith’. If the end result of all our precautions prevents one person from being infected, and helps contain the spread of COVID 19, then we have been successful with measures some think are over extensive.
Reach out, by telephone and e-mail, to your friends, family members, coworkers and parish community. Be gentle with those who are afraid. Listen. Remember especially those at home with children, those ill with preexisting conditions, all in hospital and those who live alone. Pray for those in stressed family circumstances already, for the elderly and those living in community and in residence. Pray for those struggling with mental illness and anxiety and for the marginalized and those who serve them. Remember all the men and women on the front lines, staff in hospitals and nursing homes, the medical community and first responders. Pray for yourselves and for the world.
And pray for God’s peace in these stressful and uncertain times.