Tuesday, January 12, 2021
The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory states that it is a place to burn off, so to speak, the little sins before a soul could be purified enough to enter heaven. It’s also a term we use to describe an in-between state which is where we are right now with the vaccines being rolled out to immunize us against the coronavirus.
Even if we just focus on the hospital workers, medical staff and patients in nursing homes, which total about 24 million, there’s not enough vaccine to go around. It’s more than a bit scary because we are a nation of over 330 million. Those photos of nurses and policemen getting vaccinated certainly give the rest of us hope.
But obviously what we need is not just faster production but a national plan that takes the difficulty of such a program into account. When Jonas Salk came up with the polio vaccine, a national plan was developed. Health care workers came into the schools and vaccinated my classmates, as well as me, bringing my generation out of purgatory.
Prayer for the Day
God of all blessings, we come thirsty for you,
For we need rivers in the deserts of our hearts;
We want you to well up in us as water from a spring
And we ask for tenderness of heart and strength of soul.
Choose us this day, gentle God, and we shall be chosen.
Fill our hearts with your love so we may your witnesses.
In the name of him who shows us the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
- Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1879-1965)
Without persistence, what remains is an enthusiasm of the moment. Without adaptability, what remains may be channeled into destructive fanaticism. Without positive obsession, there is nothing at all.
- Octavia Butler, American writer
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God’
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food, day and night while people say to me continually,
Where is your God?
Psalm 42: 1-3