A Prayer for Hope and Healing during this Trying Time

Spring is in the air. The earth is returning to life; but a major change has happened to us. The world has stopped and everyone has been affected. Governments have refocused and maybe even reprioritized. Wall Street has gone wild in uncertainty. Schools, churches, synagogues, temples and mosques are empty. Markets are offering empty shelves to customers. Employees are told not to come to work – stay home! Our large planet has been reduced to a village—all because of a microscopic virus called COVID-19! …

Words of Warning from Mary to her people…

In this imposed quiet and solitude, I cannot help but reflect on Our Lady’s message at La Salette. Mary warned “her people” of 1846 of the impending famine of 1852 that would take the lives of more than a million people in Ireland. She spoke of a virus that would take the lives of many children. There was also the warning about the spoiled wheat and the blight of potatoes and grapes that would destroy the vines of Europe.

 

These were not punishments from God no more than tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, the spread of Polio in the 1940-1950s, the AIDS crisis, the H1N1 Pandemic in 2009, or the Ebola epidemic. These were warnings and challenges to humankind. What do we do when confronted by them?...

An invitation from Mary to conversion of heart

Window of Mary’s La Salette Assumption, Mary Keane Chapel, Enfield, NHAt La Salette, Mary warned and challenged us to change. Have we? The store shelves are bare because some people are hoarding. We’ve all heard and laughed at the worldwide shortage of toilet paper. It’s true. The opposite of hoarding is sharing. Don’t we teach our children to share their toys and goodies?...

The large industrial cities of China are reputed to create the worst smog problems. Yet during this pandemic the factories anr closed and traffic is at a minimum. The clear blue sky has returned and the birds sing.

Hopefully this pandemic will slow and even pass. But what lessons will we have learned that will change our lives and that of our world for the better?

The warnings of Our Lady at La Salette in 1846 were different in some ways and yet the very same. In 1846, only a few heeded Mary’s warnings. The poor and hungry died. Today, will love cross the oceans of isolation, indifference and greed in our global socieyt today? Will we heed the signs and warnings of the times? What is God saying to us in this troubling time? What have we heard?

We are all in this together…

Each day we witness the heroic dedication of First Responders—doctors, nurses, health care professionals— caring for the sick, despite placing themselves and their families at risk. The risk is real. Many medical workers are dying.

(from left) Fr. Tomas Kapiňgala, M.S., of the Province of Angola, recently deceased; Fr. Albert Schaluri, M.S., from Mörschwil (Switzerland) in treatment.It would seem that it takes a crisis for the good in humanity to come forth. One such example is the case of Father Giuseppe Berardelli, 72, a much loved pastor of Casnigo in northern Italy. He became ill with the coronavirus. His condition worsened; he was given a ventilator. Because of the shortage of ventilators at the hospital, he refused it so that a younger man with a family could have it. Father Berardelli died a few days later on March 15, 2020. Just one example of true love knowing no bounds. Hundreds of volunteers are now fabricating face masks in their homes for hospital staff and others to respond to the shortage. Still others are cooking meals for the Health Care workers.

Just recently we received a notice that Father Tomas Kapiňgala, M.S., of the Province of Angola, who was working in Pontoise in the Paris area (France) was infected and recently died. Also Father Albert Schaluri, M.S., from Mörschwil (Switzerland) is now in treatment.

What will we do to draw our world closer together—or at least the members of our own family, parish and city? Perhaps we need this Holy Week and this coming Easter season more than ever before!

Let us pray with Pope Francis in his prayer for hope and healing: