Tuesday, February 23, 2021
“The people we lost were extraordinary,” the President commented, “born in America, immigrated to America.” They were people spanning generations, and each one had some hope, some dream of what life could be.
We have crossed a terrible threshold of 500,000, more than the number who died in both world wars and Vietnam. Each life represents not just one person but tears at the fabric of our national community. It was only a month ago that we had crossed the number of 400,000. Although the number of hospitalizations is decreasing here in the northeast, the virus continues to exact a terrible toll on us as a community.
We not only have fear of contracting the virus ourselves but also experience questions of faith. We cannot expect answers to every question but what our faith does enable us to do is to know that through our fears and sorrows that God is with us. Just that can give us the strength to move on through the darkness we feel.
Prayer for the Day
Startled because we thought we heard a voice, there is only silence,
And we turn to you, O God, to fill the void we feel in our lives;
Flooded with memories of stories about the ones who have died,
We wonder about their families still caught in grief.
Empower us, O God, to help hold our communities together
And teach us how to love even when it hurts.
In the name of him who did not turn away,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear.
- C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, English writer (1898-1963)
It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.
- Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, French writer, actress (1873-1954)
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise God, my help and my God.
Psalm 42: 11