Wednesday In the Second Week of
Lent
Do not fear
death’s decree for you; remember, it embraces those before you and those to
come.
Napoleon Hill noted in his
manuscript on a book he never published entitled “Outwitting the devil”[1]
stated that fear of death was one of the prominent methods the devil uses to
control us.
Hill in this imaginary work has the
power to interrogate the devil in which the devil is forced to tell all.
Q
How do you gain control of the minds of people?
A
Oh, that is easy: I merely move in and occupy the unused space of the human
brain. I sow the seeds of negative thought in the minds of people so I can
occupy and control the space!
Q
You must have many tricks and devices by which you gain and hold control of the
human mind.
A
To be sure, I employ tricks and
devices to control human thought. My devices are clever ones too.
Q
Go ahead and describe your clever tricks, Your Majesty.
A
One of my cleverest devices for mind control is fear. I plant the seed of fear
in the minds of people, and as these seeds germinate and grow, through use, I
control the space they occupy. The six most effective fears are the fear of
poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, and death.
How Catholics Should Respond to The
Coronavirus[2]
·
On
the individual level, each person must decide how they can best protect
their own health without jeopardizing the well-being of their neighbors.
o
This
means neither over- nor underreacting. Hoarding goods, especially
face masks and hand sanitizer, may provide healthy individuals with
the illusion of safety, but it does so by potentially putting health care
workers and other caregivers at greater risk if they are unable to access these
supplies.
·
On
the other hand, not taking appropriate precautions can also hurt high-risk
populations. While Covid-19 is not life-threatening to the vast majority of
people (according to one U.S. expert, 80 percent of cases are mild and patients
“spontaneously recover”),
for the elderly and people with certain underlying medical conditions the
mortality rate could be as high as 15
percent. Otherwise healthy individuals who are tempted to ignore
guidelines for hygiene
practices, social
distancing or voluntary quarantine orders must realize that
what might feel like the common cold to them could pose a serious threat to
their neighbors. They should act accordingly.
·
There
are members of our communities, however, for whom missing work or keeping a
sick child home from school to minimize the risk of spreading the virus is not
just a temporary inconvenience. Just as some people are at a higher physical
risk from the virus, many Americans are more vulnerable to the economic effects
of the outbreak. They include the one-third of workers—and two-thirds of
low-wage earners—who do not have
paid sick leave. Many of these people work in the service sector—restaurants,
hotels, retail, home care—where they are regularly in contact with the public.
Enabling a sick employee to take time off to get medical care without
losing a job or being unable to pay rent is not only a matter of
justice for and solidarity with that employee—it is also a proactive defense of
public health for the entire community.
·
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
recommended that employers encourage sick employees to stay home and
that they develop “nonpunitive leave policies” in response to the coronavirus
outbreak. While in the present crisis, workers may have no choice but to rely
on the good will (or risk-aversion) of their employers, the country would be in
a better position to contain the spread of this and future epidemics if
universal paid sick leave guaranteed that workers did not have to choose
between paying their bills and limiting the risk of communal infection.
·
The
outbreak could also exacerbate well-known cracks in the U.S. health care
system. The 27 million
people in the United States without health insurance and millions more with
high-deductible plans may forgo a trip to the doctor for fear of leaving with an exorbitant
bill. “In a potential pandemic, the last thing you want people to do
is thinking twice about going to the doctor,” Larry Levitt, executive vice
president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told The
Washington Post. Yet, instead of Congress putting forward
legislation that has any chance of passing to fill in gaps in the existing
system, political energy is still tied up in fights over the Affordable
Care Act in the courts.
·
The
$8.3 billion
bipartisan emergency response bill passed by the House on March 4
will bring much-needed resources and relief to federal agencies and state
governments working to contain the spread of Covid-19 and develop a vaccine.
But here too, stopgap measures are no replacement for well-funded, fully
staffed health agencies and a health care system that incentivizes proactive
detection and treatment for diseases that threaten the nation’s health and economy.
·
As
urgent as such longer-term structural reforms are, for now, the primary
response to the coronavirus outbreak will come at the state,
community and individual levels.
·
For
most U.S. Catholics,
it will entail relatively small disruptions like scrapping
travel plans or not receiving Communion from the cup at
Mass. Just as our Lenten penance is meant to deepen our relationship
with God and our solidarity with all who suffer as the Lord did, we can allow
these sacrifices and inconveniences in our daily lives to direct our prayers
toward those who have died and their loved ones, our attention toward those who
are ill or facing financial hardship and our actions toward strengthening the
common good, both at home and abroad. The coronavirus poses a threat that knows
no borders. As Catholics, neither does our love and concern for our neighbors.
Prayer. regard Thy people, O Lord, we
beseech Thee, and grant that we, whom Thou commandath to abstain from carnal
food, may also cease from hurtful vices.
EPISTLE.
Esther xiii. 9-17.
In those days Mardochai prayed to
the Lord, saying: Oh, Lord, Almighty King, for all things are in Thy power, and
there is none that can resist Thy will, if Thou determine to save Israel. Thou
hast made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven.
Thou art Lord of all, and there is none that can resist Thy majesty. Thou
knowest all things, and Thou knowest that it was not out of pride and contempt,
or any desire of glory, that I refused to worship the proud Arnan. (For I
wrould willingly and readily for the salvation of Israel have kissed even the
steps of his feet.) But I feared lest I should transfer the honor of my God to
a man, and lest I should adore anyone except my God. And now, O Lord, O King, O
God of Abraham, have mercy on Thy people, because our enemies resolve to
destroy us, and extinguish Thy inheritance. Despise not Thy portion, which Thou
hast redeemed for Thy self out of Egypt. Hear my supplication, and be merciful
to Thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live
and praise Thy name, O Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to Thee,
O Lord our God.
GOSPEL.
Matt. xx. 17-28.
At
that time: Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart, and
said to them: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be
betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to
death. And they shall deliver Him to the gentiles to be mocked, and scourged,
and crucified, and the third day He shall rise again. Then came to Him the
mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of
Him. Who said to her: What wilt thou?
She
saith to Him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand,
and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom. But Jesus answering, said: You know
not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?
They
say to Him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink but to
sit on My right or left hand, is not Mine to give to you, but to them for whom
it is prepared by My Father. And the ten hearing it, were moved with
indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to Him and said:
You know that the princes of the gentile’s lord it over them: and they that are
the greater exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you, but
whosoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister. And he that
will be first among you, shall be your servant. Even as the Son of man is not
come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption
for many.
Lenten
Calendar[4]
Read: During Lent, it is
important for us to remember the corporal works of
mercy,
which are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a model for how we should
treat all others: as if they were Christ in disguise.
Reflect: What small changes
would allow you to perform corporal works of mercy: Can you allocate your time
differently, so you have a couple extra hours to volunteer? Do you discard food
that could instead be donated to a local soup kitchen? When was the last time
you participated in a blood drive?
Act: Pick one of the
seven corporal works of mercy and do it this week!
Daily
Devotions
·
Manhood of the Master-Day 31
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