So, here’s the real story of the Coronavirus church in Cartersville GA. As of yesterday 25 March, a second church member died after coronavirus diagnosis, with five others testing positive. That’s seven total. I bet the higher number reported earlier was simply about the numbers of members told to self-quarantine because a definitive diagnosis could not be given until the tests went to State and then to the Federal CDC in Atlanta to be confirmed.
That church service – choir – was on March 1. That’s quite sad. Just one event. At church. Seven deathly sick, two of whom have now died.
People say that the latest guy to die was elderly and had underlying conditions, so, like, big deal. Well… Um… I happen to think that the elderly with underlying conditions are also precious in the eyes of the Lord. My parish is largely constituted of elderly parishioners with underlying health conditions.
Should I bait the elderly with underlying health conditions into church to kill them off just to please those who say that one can’t be a real believer unless one tests God, mocks God? God gave us faith, yes. But God also gave us reason. Yes, really, reason, from God. Reason is also God’s gift and God expects us to use reason as well as faith. Fideism is a heresy which rejects reason, but when one self-righteously bullies others from high-ground of “faith”, oooh!, one is king of the mountain and “right” even while people die because of that bullying. And that’s the point. It’s all about raw power devoid of justice, devoid of mercy.
Let’s be graphic about my F-E-E-L-I-N-G-S: If anyone dies anywhere because of going to church during a lockdown just because some ever so self-congratulatedly “pious” anti-Catholic bully-mocker on the internet says that those who are vulnerable persons must test God so as to prove that they are good Christians, good Catholics, by breaking the law to gather in large groups, well, I’d like to stick the faces of those anti-Catholics into the rotted corpses of those they baited to be imprudent right unto death.
I bet that these same idiots will change their tune if and when they get sick and perhaps some of them die off. Will they still be saying that pretty much all priests in the world are damned because of not baiting their elderly with compromised health into large groups of people? What is the matter with them? Perhaps they will play the martyr and say everyone else should be the martyr by testing and mocking God. This is a kind of suicide mentality, like a cult, like Jonestown. But people are still drinking the Kool-Aid of Jonestown now 42 years later.
Oh… I think I might know the rest of the story…
As I find out, there are among the mockers of the Coronavirus – the it’s-no-big-deal crowd – those who are quietly taking hydroxycloroquine and a Zithromax Z-Pak as a continuous prophylactic even though they have no symptoms, didn’t have symptoms, were not tested, have no reason to be tested, and who at the same time are trying to force those who are prudent to knock-it-off with the prudence as a cover for what they are really doing behind the scenes. Just. Wow. And now there are shortages of that drug for those whose lives it could save. Get it? “There’s no such thing as Coronavirus” they say, so that they can stockpile more for themselves. Just. Wow.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 
My atheist son sent me a sarcastic email yesterday. He wrote:-
‘Ah the power of prayer – last weekends prayer day in the US did not seem to achieve much for the nation.’
How to I reply to that?
I’ll write a post about that…
Thank you Father. There must be many people today who are wondering how to explain the apparent inaction by God to the present pandemic as cases proliferate all over the world. Those of us who believe in God can accept that it may be God’s will and it is not for us to know why – but for those who don’t?
When the Corona virus is gone, you can say to him, “Ah, the power of prayer!”
PRAY FOR YOUR SON AND TRUST, NO WORDS NEEDED
Thank you for “keeping it real” Father. I vacillate between the self-righteous “give me my Mass” (gasp) and “Lord, don’t leave me” (as the apostles might have felt at the Ascension) These are tough times. I am seeing miracles! Deo gratias.
My daughter has accused me of getting angry when I thought I was being calm. Its hard not to stew over the injustices and total cruel foolery taking place. Have people always behaved and acted this way? Did I just never notice it till now? I feel such sorrow when I see and hear how broken people and society have become. Jesus questioned if there would be any faith left in the world when he comes. Now I can see that this may be a prophetic question for our time. I have been so mired in whats going on these days that I have to force myself to look away from the ugliness of the day. I turn my gaze to the image of Our Lord in the Divine Mercy. I often just sit in silence for a long while soaking in His Love. Saint Faustina said that Jesus asked that these words be placed below his Image: “JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU”. I think that Jesus wants us to remember that He loves us even as we are. He is our loving God and Saviour. He said that He came to heal the ailing and sick mankind. Jesus, I trust in you.
Praying for all here. Thank you Father George for caring and loving us all. God bless you!
Catherine, you might be interested in a project that a friend messaged me about. Apparently a priest, Father Philip Kemmy, has proposed that we offer the Divine Mercy Chaplet each day for a person dying alone, which is happening a lot now because of quarantine restrictions. He says that we should place ourselves spiritually beside the dying person and ask Our Lord to enfold them in His merciful love so they turn to Him and experience His consoling presence.
Pelerin, I am sorry you received that sarcastic email from your son because it hurt you. We love our children and want them to be safe in God’s friendship but some don’t want to know the truth, at least not yet. Perhaps they will see matters differently further down the track. I see on the internet a number of Catholics who lost the faith in their teens but later returned. God hears a mother’s prayers and sacrifices offered up for her children even if those for whom they are offered don’t think so.
Re “I happen to think that the elderly with underlying conditions are also precious in the eyes of the Lord.” Thank you Father.
And thank you Father for setting the record straight about those who insist that if we had faith we would be disobeying quarantine and lockdown and demanding access to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion. My elder son who is my carer has been getting hot under the collar with those saying such things to him. “God expects us to use reason as well as faith”. Yes, exactly.
Public Masses have now been temporarily suspended here because of the pandemic and so too the bringing of Holy Common to the sick, which includes me. This is perfectly reasonable and very sensible when we have confirmed Covid-19 cases in our local community. At the same time it was very good to hear that Extreme Unction is still available for the dying.
As long as our priests are saying Mass (privately) every day and will come to us if we are dying, we will be able to weather this. We can watch the Mass being offered online and make spiritual communions until life returns to normal, and we have our rosaries. It’s also good to remember that our Guardian Angels are still at our sides and our patron saints in Heaven are, as always, willing to intercede for us. Life has only changed superficially; all the spiritual essentials are still in place.
Thank you Aussie Mum for the info concerning the Divine Mercy mission for the Covid19 dying organized by Fr. Philip Kemmy. I checked out Fr. Kemmy’s website and would encourage others to join in this worthy cause if you feel called. God bless everyone.