Today, on this Solemnity of the Annunciation of Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, our hearts and minds continue to be in prayer regarding the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping our country here in the USA as well as afflicting people of all ages, all over the world.
There are various prayers and novenas in circulation. This morning I received a text requesting I pray the Lord's Prayer (the Our Father) as someone has begun a chain of asking people to pray this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and all of us over the centuries--to pray it for the end to the coronavirus pandemic. I'm all in for all and any prayers; I do remind people that our inner feelings and thoughts, our emotions, are also prayers as well as can be praise of God.
Two brief prayers I've always admired and loved come from two saints of the 20th century. Padre Pio tended to tell people who had concerns and trials, "Pray, hope, and don't worry." Bl. Solanus Casey would advise, "Thank God ahead of time." Today I found myself simply asking aloud or more often within myself "say", "Mary, please comfort your children;" and, "Mary, we love you and ask your intercessions in this time of crisis."
Then Randy from Home Depot called to remind me that the promotion for the window and door order will be over on Sunday. Was I still wanting to add the flooring to it for him to try to get a better discount from the Pro Desk? I decided to pivot from news and praying, from wondering how family and friends are coping, from thinking that I seem not to be praying well enough or enough at all.
I switched gears to add up already-measured room dimensions, look up flooring product and the added pieces like stair nose and doorway transitions pieces, write the model numbers, special order sku numbers, make a few other decisions, research bath tubs to find one for the St. John the Baptist bathroom upstairs. I called the store a couple times to ask some questions of flooring and plumbing personnel, got an email address from Randy, and typed up the specifics of the order. Friday we will finalize it, and he will find out from Pro Desk if there is a greater percentage off than just the door/window promotion.
Feeling conflicted about moving forward with temporal aspects of gathering materials for eventual projects, I realized that life will go on. If something occurs with me, someone will need to do a few things to this dwelling in order to make it more salable, if they choose financial prudence. Otherwise, I will get the old carpet out, bit by bit when I improve in health (still sick from upper respiratory infection, but gradually improving). The old carpet or any carpet at all is not helping the lungs. I considered that my placing an order, although I will take advantage of a 24-month minimum payment, no interest store offering, my purchase will help the economy with a vote of confidence; and in two years the full amount will be paid by me or my estate.
Most of all, I am letting the Lord know, as well as a Home Depot employee, that I have positivity and have faith that He will pull us through this global health crisis that is becoming an economic crisis for countries and the human beings who live in these countries and continents of the world. How I react and view and express my faith will be one witness of many of those who remain steadfast and positive, hopeful in God's providence. Some of us will pass away from COVID-19, but we all are going to pass from this life from something, sometime. While alive, especially a consecrated Catholic hermit must be a silent preaching of Christ and a witness of the mystery of Christ and His Church--the Body of Christ.
The distraction is finished and has been for a few hours. But the prayer that is becoming most frequent and returns to my conscious thoughts is that of delight in that of an Easter miracle! I love that goal our U.S. President has suggested--not that it is a definite date, but is just something he feels within that would be a wonderful day for at least some sections of the country to perhaps be able to open up again with signs of more active life.
Easter is the day mentioned as a hopeful goal--a special day to the President and to many people. Yes, indeed, how special a day is Easter to all Christians. To Catholics who are intently living out this Lent as none other in most of our lifetimes, the trial of COVID-19 a global crisis, we feel the unity of the Body of Christ with those around the world awaiting the celebration of Christ's resurrection on Easter!
May we see the coronavirus image that we all by now are familiar with, in a different way and light. (Coronavirus is so named because it is shaped like and appears under a microscope to be like a crown.) Let us not see a virus crown but rather see the crown of our Lord Jesus Christ--a crown of suffering that became a crown of victory over our sins and death by Christ's saving our souls by His own death on the Cross.
So I've been praying with increasing repetition in the joyous conviction of how wonderful if the Lord would provide an Easter miracle of returning health to God's children all over the world! I'm praying for an Easter Miracle the likes of which we have not witnessed for decades if not longer. Even if there are regional miracles on Easter with the coronavirus scourge abating, what great signs of Christ's being with us and interacting, intervening, in this most terrible time of serious, viral pandemic.
The first reading from today's Mass--this Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary--convinces me all the more of the faith and hope in God that I pray will and is already in the minds and hearts of many Christians around the world: An Easter Miracle of Christ's Resurrection and a lifting up and away of the coronavirus pandemic!
"The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, 'I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!'
Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough
for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means 'God is with us!'"
~ Isaiah 7:10-14, 8, 10b
Let us ask a sign from the LORD, our God--deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! Let us ask the LORD our God, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the intercessions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and the saints, to grant us an Easter Miracle along with Christ's Resurrection and the salvation of our souls. God is with us!
May it be a sign of the LORD, also, if it be His will, may God lift the coronavirus from the world and heal those afflicted by it. And may we all as a sign of our faith, hope, and love of God, return to God with all our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls.
God bless His Real Presence in us! And thank you, LORD, ahead of time.
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