Inbox Inspiration: April 29, 2020: Living Through This - 6

 Living Through This – 6      

Dear Friends,
On the last two Wednesdays – on April 15 and 22 – my Inbox Inspirations shared some thoughts from Pope Francis.
These were from an address which the Holy Father directed to the entire world on March 27 about the coronavirus crisis.
The context of the Pope’s reflections is the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41 – Jesus in a boat with the disciples when the water becomes very rough and frightening.
Here are some more of Francis’ reflections.

“We can look to so many exemplary companions for the journey, who, even though fearful, have reacted by giving their lives. This is the force of the Spirit poured out and fashioned in courageous and generous self-denial. It is the life in the Spirit that can redeem, value and demonstrate how our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people – often forgotten people…How many people every day are exercising patience and offering hope, taking care to sow not panic but a shared responsibility…How many are praying, offering and interceding for the good of all. Prayer and quiet service: these are our victorious weapons.”

Each of us could cite many “ordinary…often forgotten people” who are “exemplary companions for the journey” that we are now on.
Today I am thinking of:
Parents who are at home, maybe doing their jobs out of the house, maybe still going out to work at an essential business, maybe out of work and a paycheck, and now providing additional care for their children who are out of school;
And
Food service workers, like farmers and farm workers, workers in meat-packing and canning and frozen food plants, truckers delivering food sometimes over long distances to where it is needed, those in supermarkets who manage the store and stock the shelves and check out customers’ orders, those preparing and serving and delivering carry-out food.
Let’s remember in our prayer these and all persons like them –
let’s thank God for them and ask God to keep them well and protect them.

May the peace and healing action of Christ be with us! Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner