Last Thursday 14^th May Pope Frances and other world religious leaders called for a day of prayer and fasting to save humanity from the pandemic, to enlighten scientists and heal the sick.

This is another major step forward for world faiths in working together and something very positive coming from this terrible situation facing the world. It is so important that people of faith stand together.  

Yet what does this day of prayer mean? Are we praying for divine intervention to end the pandemic?

When we pray with faith it is to a God who loves humanity. To God who knows everything, sees our plight and hears our prayer. The God who created the world, the galaxies and who is author of all that is.

I know of someone who did not allow her family to call an ambulance when she caught covid 19 saying that God would heal her. Two days later she couldn’t breathe and died even though her family had said God also heals through the medical services.

God is in the courage and perseverance of doctors and nurses who risk their lives every day to treat those with covid 19. Some have died. God is in the science that will find a vaccine and in the politicians and scientists who are trying to find a way forward.

God works providentially through circumstances and situations. The coincidence which is really a God incidence.

Groups such as Cor et Lumen Christi, a catholic charismatic group in their miracle rallies (see link) would advise those who believe they have been healed to get it checked out with the doctor before coming off medication.

So prayer is putting everything in God’s hands. We pray as though everything depends upon God and act as though everything depends upon us. When we pray we may have a sense of what we can and do ourselves. God has given us free will. We can be courageous, we can use our gifts and talents for others, we can use science. Even those without a religious faith can pray and rely upon a higher power to do what they can’t manage in their own strength. Witness the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous – “come to believe in a power greater than ourselves…” (Step 2)

Yes we ask for God’s help to keep us safe as individuals but we have to play our part. We may ask God to keep us from covid 19 but if we travel on crowded public transport without gloves or mask to a place of work where we can’t self distance we not doing this.

In the meantime as I said in my last post, covid 19 is revealing flawed social care services and a lack of justice. As a community we must ensure it is safe to travel for all and a duty of care is exercised in all work places of work. Those more vulnerable whether due to the economic necessity of going to work or those in care homes must get the help they need to stay safe. We’re all in this together as the saying goes.

We need to get behind the steering wheel and find better ways of living recognising our interdependence and interconnectedness.  May almighty God empower us, lead us, inspire us and bring healing to those suffering from this pandemic directly and indirectly and may we, with God’s help change things for the better when this is all over.

www.coretlumenchristi.org

Covid 19 is holding up a mirror to us all and in so many ways. Care homes in the UK have been at breaking point with 100,000 staff vacancies and evidence of serious underfunding. Yet NHS directives on 19^th March and 2^nd April told care homes to expect patients no longer benefitting from hospital care. Now a third of all coronavirus deaths in England and Wales are happening in care homes. Official statistics show 4,343 deaths from the virus in the two weeks to 24^th April. This raises many questions. 84% of care home beds in England are privately owned and many staff are migrant workers from poorer countries on low pay it would seem. Hopefully, covid 19 has exposed the crises in our care homes for many who may not have been aware.

On the BBC news in the last few days we saw how casual workers in New York are joining the ranks of the homeless and sleeping on subway trains. In the UK there is a homeless crisis also. This raises questions about the social care available in the rich America and elswhere. Again covid 19 is trumpeting social inequality and injustice.

And yet again, according to the Jesuit Refugee Service covid 19 brings into sharp relief a broken Asylum system. The Home Office is struggling to function in the pandemic. Doctors and Nurses seeking asylum are banned from working in spite of the obvious need for all hands on deck. Why not grant them temporary grant of Leave to Remain they say? 

The challenges are there for all to see. Surely we must take stock and deal with the underlying issues of lack of social care for the most vulnerable. It is upon this that a country – any country, can be judged.

Things can’t go back how they were before – Carpe diem.    

One of the recent posts which have been forwarded to me shows a cute little girl of about two with hands joined, eyes closed and head bowed in prayer. The caption reads “Dear God. Could we please uninstall 2020 and re – install it?? It has a virus.!!

The pandemic Covid – 19, while in itself a global disaster on an unprecedented scale, has brought out the best in people and nations throughout the world.  So called lockdown in many countries with whole populations isolating at home has come about due to a respect for life, especially the old and most vulnerable who are more likely to perish if they contract the coronavirus. To save life at any cost is the driving force for expenditure on the NHS in the UK and health systems of other countries at this time. As we know many doctors and nurses and front line workers have paid the ultimate price as I pointed out in my last post.

Each and every person is precious and unique and has an irreplaceable part to play in making the world a better place for all. Each life is worth saving. Let’s think about how wonderful we are.

Every human being begins to exist through the meeting of an ovum and a sperm. Inside the fertilised ovum at the moment of conception there are already 23 chromosomes from each parent. Each chromosome contains genes. So inside something just a hundredth the size of a pinhead, are 22,000 genes. Every gene is a factory. So there are 22,000 factories. Each has its own job to do; each has its own part to play in the formation of another human being.

At the moment of my conception ‘I’ began to exist. From that moment I began to develop. My heart was already formed and working three weeks later, before my mother knew she was pregnant.

‘It was you who created my inmost self,

and put me together in my mother’s womb;

for all these mysteries I thank you:

for the wonder of myself, for the wonder of your works.

Psalm 139. 13 – 14

April this year marks the passing of the Abortion Act in 1968. According to the Society for Unborn Children (SPUC) website “the most recent figure for the total number of abortions throughout the UK since 1967/68 is approximately 9.5 million. Add to that, at the very least, 3 million embryos destroyed through IVF procedures over the past three decades, it makes twelve and a half million babies destroyed in total.”

In a BBC report a few weeks ago it was estimated the worst case scenario for the coronavirus could be 250, 000. It was headlined, “Coronavirus: UK changes course amid death toll fears.”

Yet the figure for abortion and discarded embryos in 2018 alone, the latest figure, is 380,000 – a much higher death toll. (SPUC)

So we have on the one hand an immense and commendable effort to save lives in this pandemic and on the other hand and an unrelenting death toll of unborn babies.

Slogans such as “a woman’s right to choose,” and “every child a wanted child,” point to an ideology predicated on the assertion that mothers have the right to take the life of their unborn child.

Women who felt they had no way out of an unwanted pregnancy other than abortion are suffering in untold ways because of their so called “choice.” The aftermath women stumble into following abortion is unimaginable. Woman too are the victims of abortion.

Things must not continue as before when this pandemic is over. A new respect for human rights. A new search for peace in the world. Addressing the refugee crisis and a serious quest to end world hunger and climate change – and –  new respect for life from the moment of conception to death throughout the world.

Ending the pandemic of abortion.

For those affected by this post with regard to abortion please contact www.archtrust.org.uk

“If a man hasn’t found something he will die for then he isn’t fit to live”

Martin Luther King

There are different kinds of Martyrs. Martin Luther King campaigned tirelessly in the face of mortal danger for what he believed and eventually paid the ultimate price. Gandhi and Oscar Romero are two others who come to mind. Fortunately for humanity the list is long.

Then there are those who regularly put their lives at risk to serve others; in the emergency services and the armed forces for example. Right now in this pandemic we see doctors, nurses, carers and other front line workers regularly risking their lives. There are many who have given their lives as a result and because of their heroic service many have been saved.

Then there are those who stand up for what they believe in situations where death is inevitable. Again,  many such people. Maximilian Kolbe who took the place of a fellow prisoner in a starvation bunker in 1941 in Auschwitz is but one in recent times.

Then there was Thomas More patron of this blog, who was decapitated on 6^th July 1535 for refusing to sign the Oath of Supremacy which essentially meant that he refused to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.

For Christians the greatest sacrifice of all is Jesus’ death on the cross, the greatest symbol of love ever. Jesus of Nazareth Son of God paying the price for sin and reconciling humanity to the Father. Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe because we had a debt we couldn’t pay. Now the way to God and to Salvation is open to all.   

Out of sacrifice comes new life. Civil rights in America and the recognition that all are born equal is due in large part to civil rights campaign and the leadership of Martin Luther King.

Many lives saved by the sacrifice doctors and nurses in the current pandemic.

And of unique and supreme importance the Resurrection of Jesus Christ opening the way to new life.

Thomas More’s last words were, “I die the Kings good servant but God’s first.”

Have you found something worth dying for?

Listen to, ‘Knowing you Jesus’ by Graham Kendrick on YouTube

What are your hopes during this time of lock down in this Coronavirus or COVID -19 pandemic? Are you looking forward to the end of solitude and getting back to normal living? Being with family and friends, those at work, neighbours? Are you looking forward to the resumption of sporting activities or other interests where you meet and mix in reality – not virtually? Perhaps you are already making plans to re schedule those cherished holidays which were so suddenly snatched away without warning.

If your situation is intolerable right now, hope is what can give the strength and perseverance for you to carry on. These hopes may even make you happy. As human beings we have the facility to look ahead, to imagine, to dream. Even to dream like the words of the song, “The impossible dream.” The words are powerful, “to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear the unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go.” Why not take a moment now and hear the song maybe sung by Frank Sinatra on YouTube.

What you hope for will come from your values, what you cherish and hold most dear. This reflects who you are, your identity, how you see yourself. Going deeper this in turn taps into your core beliefs and faith.

Do you believe that you, the world and life as you know it is an accident? That it came about millions of years ago when two atoms (where did they come from?) collided in space. When you consider the intricacies of your being body mind and spirit, when you consider the world and its eco systems, when you gaze at the stars, when you look with wonderment of a flower on a spring day, a waterfall, the grandeur of a mountain surely you might say, ‘there is a Creator God. I am a gift, the world is a gift, free will is a gift. I can choose good or ill.’ This is the greatest gift a Creator can give a child like the gift of freedom a loving parent gives to her child. That is, to go out and make something of himself and re create the world for the better.

The world is in your care – our care. Think of the challenges of climate change and it’s causes.

So in this lock down time let’s hope and maybe re examine what we hope for.

Peter the apostle writing to persecuted Christians of the day, reminds them of their inheritance as children of God. “This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials…” (1 Peter 1:6 – read 3 – 9). And in verse 9, “and you are sure of the end to which your faith looks forward.”

Hope is a virtue of the Christian tradition. Hope is for something you want and expect to have. The virtue is hoping for union with God our Father and eternal happiness. 

A story to end. A little girl has finished reading all her books and asks her daddy to take her to the library. As they reach the bus stop holding hands the little girl looks sad and her dad asks her what’s wrong. She says she is looking forward to reading new books but worries that they may not get a seat on the bus and that the bus will jerk and she might fall over, to which her dad replies, “not if we hold hands tightly, just don’t let go.” She smiles but then looks sad again and says, “But daddy some people on the bus will be smelly and might argue and call each other names I hate that. Can’t you make them all be good?” Dad replies, I’m sorry I can’t make them be good but when we get to the library it will all be worthwhile I promise. With that the little girl held her dad’s hand even more tightly looked up and smiled just as the bus pulled up.

Quote from Thomas More one of the greatest Englishmen that ever lived. “Lord grant me a healthy body and the good humour to maintain it.”

Humour is key.

Each of us is a steward or caretaker of what we have come to know and understand and we are therefore responsible for sharing it with all those prepared to listen. “Your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works they may give praise to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5.16

The words attributed to Nelson Mandela but written by Marianne Williamson come to mind…

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world….We are all meant to shine as children do.”

The Good News of Jesus Christ is needed more than ever to transform our dysfunctional world by calling out injustice and evil and trumpeting the many good deeds of people of good will.

This blog is a sharing platform of a Christian man later in life, prompted by the enthusiasm for all that could be in the light of the Good News which is always fresh always new. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, quoted by Robert Kennedy in his book ‘To see a newer world,’  “Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.”

So this is an invitation to all readers to SEE and JUDGE all things in the light of the Good News and ACT in the light which this brings; but more than this, to come to ‘know, to love and serve’ God our Father who calls us in the here and now for all eternity. This, in the words of the ‘Penny Catechism’ of the Catholic Church is why we are here. It is the purpose of our lives.

Why am I launching this blog while we are in the throes of a pandemic? I suppose like so many in lockdown there is more time. We all have our thoughts and feelings about our present situation. There are many forwards buzzing about on WhatsApp. Some thought provoking, some moving and powerful, many spiritual, some funny and some irresponsible. This epitomises our re discovered interconnectedness and interdependence. Only time will tell if we learn the lessons and move forward in search of a new and better world. 

And at this Easter time 2020, Christians around the world again celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Son of God and by his rising from the dead we celebrate our own resurrection and life eternal.

This truth brings peace. Peace and fear cannot co-exist. We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

(1 Cor. 15.20 -26)