WRITEON FOR MARCH 25, 2020
sister alies.
One does have to wonder in the midst of this COVID19 what the Good Lord's message might be. If you sneeze, cough, etc. into your elbow…are elbow bumps very healthy?
From the Fathers of the Desert (4thC): “A brother once put this question to one of the elders: ‘there are two brothers, one of whom remains praying in his cell, fasting six days a week, and practicing much austerity. The other spends all his time taking care of the sick. Which one’s work is more pleasing to God?’ The elder replied, ‘if the brother who fasts and prays were to hang himself up by the nose, he would not equal even one act of kindness of the one who takes care of the sick.’”
What a blessing to be able to help one another. Though the work of the first brother is also to God’s liking, the second has put himself at risk for others.
My doctor quarantined me for a month…not because I have Covid19 but because I have no immune system. No going out…or visitors in…Alas…I am grateful to those who have helped. For them, like the first bother, I continue to pray. For any of you who are compromised, please take care! Maybe we are separated by this social isolation for a purpose: to reality check our families, to review our lives, or to discover what we ae called to do. Over 2/3rds of the world have nothing on the shelves when they go to the market most days, virus or not.
A virus, a nasty killer, has brought folks together…really? You tell me why we can’t do all these amazing things on every level without a virus??? How do we notice the difference, you might ask?” deMello, (1989) tells us this: “A great festival was to be held in the village for everyone and each villager was asked to contribute one bottle of wine to the giant barrel. One of the villagers thought: ‘if I pour a bottle of water in, no one will notice.’ It hadn’t occurred to him that anyone else might have had the same thought. When the celebration began and the barrel was tapped, what came out was pure water.”
Was anyone ashamed that there was no wine for the celebration? Maybe we just need to do what we’re asked for the benefit of the common good?
BLESSINGS.
