Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

Dancing around an ever-present virus and frequent masking. What else can we expect of post-pandemic life? Women priests in the Catholic Church? Dishwashers averaging $35.00 per hour? Specialists in pandemics say that a downright oppressive period like Covid-19 results in seismic changes in our way of thinking and doing.

Daily challenges smash our certainties and we’re forced to accept drastic changes. Did we ever think we’d see the day when office buildings might seem superfluous?  

Changes in our way of thinking and doing may suggest Lent to Christians. The pandemic is a bit like that, interior renewal forced on us by changes wrought in our lives. E.g., attention to and concern for the welfare of our neighbor. Has our experience of months of pandemic made for desirable changes, not simply in me, but for the one human family?

Has it helped insure justice and equal opportunity -- economic, educational, medical, political -- for all Blacks, for all non-whites, foreign and domestic, immigrants and native Americans?

Has it helped eradicate discrimination so that all children, irrespective of color, have access to quality educational opportunities? Has it forwarded equal access to health care, protection from criminals and police brutality, and from the scourge of gun violence?

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your love, and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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