“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
