By REY FLORES
How many of us took our Holy Mass for granted? Not only the Mass, but all of the sacraments, and even sacramentals like holy water. Here yesterday, gone yesterday.
Yes, even holy water. I hope that most of you keep a stash of sacramentals in your homes, things like holy water, blessed salt, and beeswax candles, because there’s no telling when all of this Chinese Wuhan virus mess will be over.
How many of you are actually “attending” either a televised or online Mass during this current situation? I have been. It’s obviously not the same, but at least society can use technology for something other than celebrity gossip, video games, and pornography.
Thankfully many Catholic parishes are still offering adoration, Confessions in some circumstances, and the simple ability to walk into a church and pray.
Yes, these are strange times indeed. Never in a million years did I imagine I would be living in a world where we had to give up so many of our freedoms. Never did any of us think how hot a commodity toilet paper would become!
While people are knocking each other over in the grocery aisles of our nation, I’m reaching out to my rosary more than ever. As people grow more paranoid every day, people should instead be asking themselves what is truly more important. Is it our temporal life here on Earth, or is it our eternal soul which is more important?
I’m sure we’re all very burnt out with this whole situation; but what else is there to talk about?
For those of you out there still blessed and fortunate enough to surround yourselves with your loved ones, by all means take full advantage of this opportunity to appreciate every little thing about your spouses and children. Please be especially attentive to and aware of the older folks in our families and communities. They are probably scared half to death with all they are witnessing unravel before their very eyes.
Are we simply going to spend these next moments of our lives panicking, wringing our hands, biting our nails and trusting in man and not God? Are we to fear this “virus” more than we should be fearing the Lord?
Yes, things don’t look good from the worldly lens of our eyes, but if we start seeing the much bigger picture with our hearts and our souls, we may just find the peace which we all need.
Now is not the time to reject what can edify us as followers of Christ. Now is not the time to engage in the pleasures of the flesh. Now is not the time to drink or drug ourselves into oblivion, because the time is at hand. Now is not the time to just give in and give up.
Now is the perfect time to clean up, shape up, and make amends with all those people whom you have treated unjustly. Now is exactly the time to forgive those who have hurt us, and to bury the hatchet once and for all.
It seems that when things hit the fan in these times of trouble, rather than turning to God, many people instead embrace the idea that we better enjoy the worldly pleasures before it is too late. We’d better have “fun” while we still can, they say.
There is nothing pleasurable or fun about going to Hell. There is nothing good in our weakness to temptation and sin. Consequences are forever when we play Russian roulette with our souls. Do we want to get our jollies here on Earth; or do we want to spend eternity in Heaven? I know what my answer is. I hope it is yours, too.
I am now hearing how some city governments are threatening to cut “nonessential” businesses off from utilities like electricity and water if they don’t comply and shut down. But I can’t help wonder — who is to say what is truly nonessential? It seems to me that all sorts of jobs are essential to folks when it comes to feeding, clothing, and sheltering their families.
The first thing any of us must do is trust in the Lord. Know that if we surrender all of our worries and concerns to Him, He knows how to take care of business better than any of us do.
The second thing we must do is help others to get closer to God. Let us teach the souls still more lost than ourselves to get to know God in order for them to be at peace. There is nothing worse than going through a modern-day crisis without any faith or trust in God.
It truly is a chaotic thing we are living with. Even the most devout faithful still have doubts and fears, but just remember that the one planting those seeds of doubt and fear is Satan. He wants us to forget our eternal reward in Heaven. He wants us to be in despair and to give in to sin, so he has a much better shot at taking us down with him. Let us not allow this by our fully trusting in the Lord God.
As always, I am praying for all of our Wanderer readers. Please pray for my family and me as well. Thank you and God bless.
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(Rey Flores writes opinion and book and movie reviews for The Wanderer. Contact Rey at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)
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