COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer

 

Pray that each citizen and each person in our nation receive justice and for the restoration of peace in our land as we continue to pray for an end of the COVID 19 Pandemic.  Amen.  

       

Today we begin Ordinary time, but in the COVID 19 Pandemic things are anything but ordinary. Yesterday’s feast of Pentecost is so important for us today. Pentecost sent The Gospel Message of Jesus “viral” and 3,000 became followers of Jesus! 

Bishop Barron wrote, Every religion or philosophy involves … certain key ideas.  Muslims … accept the truth of the Qur’an; Buddhists … the 8fold path of the Buddha; Aristotelians … subscribe to the principles of Aristotle ….  But for Christians, it is far more than a philosophy … [we] have heard the voice of Jesus and responded to it ….  (The Magnificat, May 2017, p.92)

Meister Eckhart said that “The spiritual path has more to do with subtraction than addition.”  [Belden C. Lane, “The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality”]

Fulton Sheen wrote, “The amount of Divine Life we receive depends upon our capacity.  The fuller we are of ourselves, the less room there is for Christ.”

[Fulton J. Sheen, “The Mystical Body of Christ”]

We, Christians believe in the person of Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Word of God Incarnate, Jesus true God and true man.  He is the Good Shepherd, the one who leads us, the one who fulfills us, the one Who prepares us to be with Him in heaven. 

   

GK Chesterton once expressed this in a parable: “A man who was entirely careless of spiritual affairs died and went to hell.  And he was much missed on earth by his old friends.  His business agent went down to the gates of hell to see if there was any chance of bringing him back.  But though he pleaded for the gates to be opened, the iron bars never yielded.  His priest also went and argued: ‘He was not really a bad fellow; given time he would have matured.  Let him out, please!’  The gate remained stubbornly shut against all their voices.  Finally, his mother came; she did not beg for his release.  Quietly … she said to Satan: ‘Let me in.’  Immediately the great doors swung open upon their hinges.  For love goes down through the gates of hell and there redeems the dead.”  Being a Christian is an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

For a few minutes, think about your relationship with Jesus, how personal is it?  Reflect on what you need to subtract to grow closer to Jesus Christ.

May God Be Praised!