Amid so much death and suffering in the world due to this devastating pandemic, let us promote protocols of healthy Christianity:

  • Distance yourself from gossip; it is contagious and deadly for the soul.
  • Stay away from greed; it causes eternal insecurity.
  • Wear a mask to keep your mouth from pronouncing words that can make others sick.
  • Disinfect your hands constantly from any germs of violence.
  • Wear gloves to approach others, so that they feel safe with you.
  • Stay home if you are coughing resentment; there are vulnerable people around you.
  • Quarantine yourself if you suffer from the fever of criticizing and complaining about others.
  • Be prompt to get your inner health checked; bitterness and sadness are serious symptoms. Make an appointment with the spiritual doctor: Jesus.
  • Isolate the TV; so many channels waft bacteria of suspicion, disappointment and fear. These can embed themselves deep inside the soul.
  • Do not get too close to those who exhale pessimism, cynicism or indifference; they carry a virus that multiplies by the millions and suffocates the breath of humanity.
  • Stay home; family produces antibodies of happiness, tenderness and freedom better than any supplements.
  • Get vaccinated against haste and the too-much-to-do virus; these only cause exhaustion and mediocrity.
  • Take the vitamins of silence and reflection; these generate gratefulness and activate the brain cells that help you identify what is truly important in your life.
  • Take a trip down memory lane in your mind and heart; this can help you relax and rest like never before. You will have fun and deeply enjoy the moments, places, and people you have been with and those who are with you now.
  • Stop to listen to your own impatience, anxiety, relationships, deepest desires, wishes, fears and suffering. Tell Jesus about them; he always listens, and we all need someone who can listen with the love of a friend.
  • Take this opportunity to distance yourself from your worries. Like Jesus, withdraw to an encounter with yourself and your creator, so that you can accomplish your mission in good health (see Luke 5:16, 6:12; Matthew 6:6).

Mary, mother of Jesus and our mother, is the greatest example for all of us, as humans and as disciples in any pandemic. She knew how to deal with the germs of doubt, rejection, haste and isolation. She took the vaccine of trust in the almighty and “kept all these things in her heart.” That inner health kept her healthy, happy, firm and faithful amid all the threatening evil viruses that sought to weaken her and make her abandon her mission.

Jesus received that inner health from his mother, and taught these same health protocols to his disciples, who discovered the vaccine of eternal life in Jesus.

The generations that followed have been slow in learning, and we need to keep practicing.

Northwest Catholic - September 2020