Uncertainty and Expectations in the time of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Source:thetorontostar.com

A friend says we will look back to the time before COVID 19 as our Golden Era. Providing you had enough money then, we were free to travel almost anywhere, gather with friends, associate with strangers and generally do what we wanted.

Today we live in times of uncertainty. Strangely, some people still deny the pandemic and say that they are reluctant to be vaccinated (when it finally is ready) for what they suspect is a hoax.

However, a surge of C19 may have already begun. Will this surge be a stronger worldwide pandemic that will produce more cases and deaths? What will we do if the surge enters our schools? Can our medical and economic systems take another hit just when they seemed to be recovering? Will our governments then have no other choice but to go deeper into debt to help people?

Winter is coming and within 3 months we will be spending more time inside our homes and buildings, breathing unfresh air and the coughs of other people. But this winter’s traditional “flu season” may feature a much more deadly, worldwide pandemic. How will we cope?

Hopefully our southern friends, the Americans, will elect a new president on November 3, a person who will reunite their country and provide new leadership and plans to contain COVID 19. As a major world power, these changes will provide hope for Canadians and other people.

Hopefully also, scientists throughout the world will share their research results, cooperate with scientists from other countries, and speed up the time needed to produce a safe, effective vaccine to contain the pandemic.

And also hopefully, more people who believe in a loving Creator will come to the wisdom that death as well as life are parts of being a creature of God. In the spring we see green leaves and flowers rise from the ground as God’s new life.

After summer, they wither and seem to die, only to re-emerge after winter as new life. We human creatures go through the same cycle. We pass away but then experience the promised new life of the Kingdom of God.

Black slaves understood and sang of this wisdom in one of their hymns:

“Hush little baby don’t you cry…you know all men are born to die.

All my trials Lord soon be over.”

Experiencing the same wisdom, Christian monasteries traditionally notice a rise in applications to monastic life after the horrors of war . Why? Perhaps because daily prayer and reflection remind the monks of the love of the Lord and the impermanence of human life.

As their/our bodies start to decline and death approaches, these changes in life are to be expected, not denied as being some thing abnormal. All of us are born because of our loving God, all of us shall die, and all of will pass on to a new life with our loving God.

In these pandemic times we have much more private quiet time to reflect on the Good News of this fundamental truth. May it minimize our fear and strengthen our hope.

So, how can we cope with COVID 19? Continue to follow the advice of the medical community, pray/work for wise government, and trust in our loving God. You may even have time to sing praise to the Lord…

“Be not afraid, I go before you always.

Come follow me

And I shall give you rest………

 

If you stand before the power of hell

And death is at your side,

Know that I am with you through it all.”

 

 

Richard Grover is a retired history and religion teacher from St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg.

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3 Comments
  • Gilbert Verrier
    Posted at 04:01h, 29 August Reply

    Excellent article, thank you.

    Here is this paragraph with my “two cents worth” 😉 :). “Hopefully our southern friends, the Americans, will elect a president on November 3 who will reunite their country and provide renewed leadership and plans to contain COVID 19. As a major world power, these changes will provide hope for Canadians and ALL other people.”

    And I would conclude with this:

    “V. THE LAST JUDGMENT

    And they will go away into … , but the righteous into eternal life.” 625

    Source: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm

    God bless, and Godspeed, as always.

  • Peter Bisson
    Posted at 11:13h, 29 August Reply

    Thank you Richard!

  • Sami Helewa, SJ
    Posted at 11:50h, 29 August Reply

    Well done. Thank you. Cooperation and endurance are key endeavour during this pandemic.

Post A Reply to Sami Helewa, SJ Cancel Reply

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