Pandemic Poetry

This poem is too preachy, which makes it not a poem.  But I hope alluding to nature and my diction deflects my tendency to moralize.  Hence this poem is a crossbred nature poem, mixed with biology and science which results in a new genre--pandemic poetry.

The Devil  Rides on Bacilli

Pernicious evil growing
from dark pathogens
unearthed in a Wuhan lab
or the open market.

Eaten by an ant.
Swallowed by a bat.
Lapped by a pangolin.
Relished by a man.

No reason to make ado.
Some always look to blame.
Others always find conspiracy.
Then there's just bad Karma.

The fact that it survives
washing hands,
wearing gloves,
donning face masks,

is a testimony to the stubbornness
of an enemy beyond our eyes,
waiting to pounce and ride
round the world with abandonment.

What weapon will kill it?
Soap and vaccine will slow
but never have victory over
a bloodless, fleshless germ.

Wait till summer, some say.
The heat will kill the virus.
Then throw this bane back
to hell where it was conceived.

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

My town just announced that school wouldn't open until May 4th.  Another month!  All due to COVID-19.

Many in town are creative.  We've had chalk artists decorate the town's sidewalks.  Chalk artists are everybody with chalk.  We've had generous business owners donate money and their wares.  Neighbors are telephoning neighbors. 

The latest endeavor is to put stuffed animals, namely, teddy bears in our windows for children to walk around the neighborhood and look for bears and Easter bunnies.

Plenary Indulgence During Covid-19

Usually to gain a plenary indulgence one has to go to Confession and receive Communion.  These requirements you probably do anyway.

The Catholic Response to the Corona Virus

From the Pilot.Pilot

A Notice On A Monitor In St. Peter's Square Tells Visitors To The Vatican To Keep At Least A Meter (3.28 Feet) Apart March 9, 2020. St. Peter's Basilica Is Still Open, But The Vatican Has Closed The Vatican Museums, The Necropolis Under St. Peter's Basilica, Museums At The Pontifical Villa At Castel Gandolfo, And The Museums Of The Papal Basilicas Until April 3 As Measures To Contain The Coronavirus. (CNS Photo/Paul Haring)

HOW CATHOLICS SHOULD RESPOND TO THE CORONAVIRUS

Friday, March 13, 2020Culture

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Here is an unsigned editorial titled: "How Catholics should respond to the coronavirus," which appeared online March 5 on the website of America Magazine, a weekly Jesuit publication.

The coronavirus illness, designated COVID-19, has spread to over 100 countries, infected at least 121,000 people and killed at least 4,375 worldwide. Even as the spread of the virus has slowed in China, the epicenter of the outbreak, cases are cropping up in communities across the United States, which as of March 11 has 1,016 cases. At least 31 people have died.

This includes cases with no connection to foreign travel, suggesting the virus has been spreading undetected for longer than first estimated. Any pretense that this outbreak could be contained through purely defensive measures -- travel restrictions on affected countries and quarantines for returning citizens, for example -- is gone. The coronavirus poses a public risk; no individual or country is immune from infection. As such, it requires a proactive, public response centered on the common good.

This response has both individual and structural elements. On the individual level, each person must decide how they can best protect their own health without jeopardizing the well-being of their neighbors. This means neither overreacting 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 also is 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 goodwill (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 also could 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 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 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 for Solidarity During the Cornoa Virus

Solidarity Prayer for a Pandemic

 May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips remember those that have no place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home remember those who have no home. During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.
 Amen.

from Michael Lavigne

 

Assistant Cabinet Secretary for Evangelization and Discipleship

Archdiocese of Boston

The Fourteen Holy Helpers: Plague saints for a time of coronavirus

A depiction of the Fourteen Holy Helpers from Bavaria 19th century restored by Alois Liebwein Public domain

The Fourteen Holy Helpers: Plague saints for a time of coronavirus: Denver, Colo., Mar 11, 2020 CNA.- By this time in the coronavirus outbreak, you may have cruised the empty toilet paper aisles and pasta shelves at your local grocery store, and could have had moments of panic wondering whether you're taking the corona thing seriously enough.  But prayer will help.  Prayer calms you.  Then you can put things in perspective.  Click on the article for more.



In the 14th century, we had two popes and a pandemic.  Hey!  That's now.  Yes, and what did they do in the 14th century?  They prayed:



 “Almighty and merciful God, who didst adorn Thy Saints George, Blase, Erasmus, Pantaleon, Vitus, Christopher, Denis, Cyriacus, Acacius, Eustace, Giles, Margaret, Barbara and Catherine with special privileges above all others, so that all who in their necessities implore their help, according to the grace of Thy promise, may attain the salutary effect of their pleading, grant to us, we beseech Thee, the forgiveness of our sins, and with their merits interceding, deliver us from all adversities and kindly hear our prayer.  Amen."

A Prayer for Protection from Corona-virus

Jesus,
    You traveled throughout towns and villages curing the sick.  At Your command, people were healed and exorcised.  Today, Your people are sick.  Yes, we are spiritually ill, but I am thinking of all those who are physically afflicted with Covid-19.  We cannot pray to You as we aught when we are too ill to think.

 Jesus, my Beloved, I beg You to heal us.

Be with the suffering who need strength and love.

 Jesus, my Beloved, I beg You to heal us.

Be with the doctors, nurses, and those who care for the sick.  Give them endurance, compassion, skill, and perseverance.

 Jesus, my Beloved, I beg You to heal us.

Be with those who have died.  May they rest in Your peace.  Stay with Your children in this time of worry and sadness.  Give us Your peace and love.

 Jesus, my Beloved, I beg You to heal us.

We ask this through the merits of our Beloved Jesus, Your Son, Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Mary, our mother, continue our prayers of petition.

St. Raphael intercede for our healing.

St. Rocco pray for us.

Blue Collar Prepping: Guest Post: Pandemic? Don't Panic!

Blue Collar Prepping: Guest Post: Pandemic? Don't Panic!: by Dr.  Cathaleen Madsen Dr. Madsen holds a PhD in Bioscience with a concentration in Microbiology and Infectious Disease. This article (click on the link) is something everyone should read.  It's commonsense advice and information on just getting sick, nevermind just coronavirus.

Just Wondering

You know how divided everyone is.  People are fighting over politics, religion, resources, etc.  What if God allowed the corona

virus to happen to get the world to work together to eradicate it?

Just a thought.