“We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our pleas
– we who are put to the test –
and deliver us from every danger,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.”
Careful what you pray/wish for.
Fr. Z is well known for his 'biological solution' hopes, applied to liberal Boomers in the Church, especially among the hierarchy, clergy, and LCWR nuns on the bus. Those aging progressives responsible for blocking the TLM and traditionalist who dislike the 'spirit of VII' - e.g. the modernists who have 'infiltrated' the Church. Yeah - so their prayers may be answered with the COVID-19 pandemic. Or not.
Fr. Z has a string of posts referencing his 'biological solution' which is reminiscent of the 'final solution' of the Nazis. If you are curious, click here to review a sampling. It looks as if he might have originated the term in 2012. Fr. Z recently returned from the Holy Land, and he himself is a baby-boomer, hopefully he is spared from this particular biological solution.
Is COVID-19 pandemic a chastisement?
Lot's of people are suggesting it is, while Catholic bishops seem to suggest that it is not how God acts. That notion appears to contradict scripture. To be sure Evangelicals and other Christian voices believe it is a chastisement - first and foremost because of the gays - which is typical for these types. If one wants it to be divine chastisement, it would be more correct to say it is a chastisement calling everyone to repent and turn back to God. Straight or gay, it doesn't matter, we have all sinned - every one of us need to examine our conscience, repent, and do penance - reconciling to God and one another - instead of looking for scapegoats to make ourselves feel safe.
But my people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs. - Ps. 81
Italian Cardinal Bassetti said the virus could be interpreted as a chastisement and kinda sorta backed away from the idea. It's a bit more complicated. For myself, whether it is or it isn't, since I'm at that vulnerable age, I'm happy to accept it as a call to deeper repentance and prayer as a preparation for death.
The president of the Italian Episcopal Conference has conceded that the coronavirus pandemic may be interpreted as a chastisement we have brought upon ourselves by our evil and rebellion against God.
Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti quoted the first part of a verse from the prophet Jeremiah in an interview with leftwing Italian newspaper La Repubblica: "Your wickedness will chasten you, and your apostasy will reprove you" (2:19 RSV).
The archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve was asked if believers should view the coronavirus as divine punishment since "the Bible speaks of chastisements from God."
Basetti, however, was reluctant to attribute the pandemic to God's direct intervention since "God does not chastise, but loves with infinite love."
"If we thought of this situation as a punishment from God, we would betray the very essence of the gospel," he cautioned, before hammering home the warning from Jeremiah.
"God saves man by freeing him from sin, but leaving him free" to choose, the cardinal remarked. "There are already certain behaviors of men that themselves punish human beings by impoverishing our existence, breaking our relationship with God, with others and with creation." - Source
"Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the Father’s will
and to do what Jesus tells us."
- Pope Francis
God stands in the divine assembly.
In the midst of the gods he gives judgment.
"How long will you judge unjustly
and favor the cause of the wicked?
Do justice for the weak and the orphan,
defend the afflicted and the needy.
Rescue the weak and the poor;
set them free from the hand of the wicked. - Ps. 82
March 13,2020, 3:20 DST. Seven years ago at this very hour the new Pope, Francis, stepped out onto the balcony to first of all ask the Faithful to pray for him. Seven years later, the world has changed, and changed, and changed. Our Father.... hallowed be thy Name... Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.... Amen. Write on, Terry, as you are led. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteHe is so very much the right Pope for our time. I love him.
DeleteAmen, I so agree. He is a great source of consolation me. He is calm, steadfast and prayerful. A witness for me to imitate.
DeleteAmen, I so agree. He is a great source of consolation me. He is calm, steadfast and prayerful. A witness for me to imitate.
DeleteThis pandemic is the result of our destruction of the earth. All Coronavirus, e.g. SARS, comes from animals. Covid-19 originated from a live animal market in Wuhan. We are destroying the habitats of animals, displacing them and coming into contact with them in ways we never did before. Pope Francis has said it is sinful to destroy the earth. We are reaping the results of our sins, but it is not from God. We caused it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteRe Zuhlsdorf, with the amount of weight he is carrying these days, he might personally be a victim of the biological solution sooner than he thinks.
Excellent point. I do not see this as a particular chastisement, or divine punishment for the usual suspects, but simply a natural development, as you point out. There are natural consequences to what humankind does - your point of habitat destruction is right on. There are natural consequences to sin. Actually - Sr. Lucia said the same thing - it isn't God who is causing it - we are doing it ourselves. Wonderful insight. Thank you.
DeleteIn 1918 the flu we know as “Spanish” likely was transmitted from animal to human in our Midwest. Soldiers carried it to War & Europe according to recent book. Wilson acted like Trump, ignored, downplayed, used disinformation with disasterous results. Household rodents Often spread virus’ throughout the world. Causal factors are very complicated. The animal kingdom has always done its part in producing disease. Passing onto humans is inevitable. God gives us the intellect & tools to combat. The question is why we do not use His gift better?
ReplyDeleteGood points. Some speculate this virus was confected in a lab - some insist that it was intended as a bio-weapon. Whatever the origins, it's a threat, and because of it's effect on our social situation, it seems a sort of correction, an awakening for everyone. I really believe it wouldn't matter if it was 'predicted' or be revealed as part of some secret from Medjugorje - as some on FB want to claim - it's here and we deal with it. Like you say, God gives us the intellect & tools to combat. Thanks Wallace.
DeleteMichael Osterholm on Joe Rogan is convincing. He said that scientists can tell when a virus is bio-engineered, the way they trace it, it's almost like carbon dating. He said this virus was not made. He said it is impossible for anyone to make this virus. It did indeed come from the wet market, from a species of ant-eater.
DeleteIt really gets me whenever I hear people putting forward the bio-disease conspiracy theory (for one because I used to buy into it a bit). You have to assume that if a group of people were going to manufacture a virus with the intention of releasing it on the public, that they would also have had to develop a vaccine for it, otherwise there is the probability that they themselves (and all those they care about) might get infected. Then they would have to get this vaccine into all the people they care about, and every one of them is in on the secret. We're talking James Bond villains here, replete with hollow mountain. Not to say it's not "possible", but none of these conspiracy theorists take this into consideration. They just blurt their crap out like it was reality. Conspiracy theories are stupidly simplistic. Which is part of the attraction.
Also just wanted to say I keep you and your friend in my prayers, and no, you do not sound terribly pious. Your words on such spiritual matters always resonate with me.
ReplyDeleteBeneath your compassion we take refuge
ReplyDeleteO virgin Theotokos
Despise not our prayers in our need
But deliver us from dangers
For you alone are pure and blessed
This is the oldest known prayer to the Mother of God, found written on a catacomb wall in the 2nd century, written in a time the church was in great need.