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

Pandemic was a boon for sainthood! 

My refrain went this way.  Couples caring for children show more heroic behavior than celibates. E.g., getting up frequently during the night to take care of a vomiting one year old or a hungry babe. While some religious (general term used for men and women members of a religious association like Benedictines) may get up at 2 AM by design, they can go back to bed. Parents whose sleep is interrupted randomly, must get up at 5 AM and face a commute or prepare for Zoom at 8 AM. 

Now, say they have 3 elementary age children. Parenting men and women find that the children are not going to school but because of Covid-19 are being schooled at home. Mom and/or Dad are teaching the equivalent of three grades in a variety of courses. Computer programming, social sciences, math, elements of botany, perhaps Beginners’ Egyptian as well as advanced Spanish.

Often, they discover that their children do not take to having their parents as teachers. Add to this, one or the other parent is being treated for cancer or has the virus. How does the parent isolate him or herself?  Who feeds the children?  Fourth grader Sue has just recently become a vegetarian in a house of carnivores. The other two can barely be persuaded to eat green beans let alone bok choy. 

Add to the mix: Mom is working online for her doctorate.  Angie must go twice a week to dance class, Jeff to hockey practice. Dad needs time to keep up his certification online. How many such activities can a family sustain? When does Mom get to Zoom with her book club? And Dad do FaceTime with his mother? 

The Pandemic or ‘lock down’ often demands all this self-giving of a parent with a chronic ailment. How much more self-giving and self-denial can be required of human beings, given the standard twenty-four hour grid? 

We read that Saint Zophar of Miletus ate only once a day and prayed on average 6 hours a day. He had no children to interrupt his prayer.  A monk of today follows a very regular schedule: up at 5:30 or 6 AM. Morning prayer at 7 AM.  7:30 Breakfast. 8 AM Work, office, shop, personal prayer, etc. in here some place. Noon prayer. 12:15 Lunch. 1:15 siesta. 5 PM Mass; etc. 

Sure, no loving partner is waiting at the end of the day to provide solace. The couple with three children do have each other, but when? Covid-19 may have one member isolated in another part of the house or having to assist at the food shelf. How selfless can you get?

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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