Dear Parishioners,

Catholic Charities is running a virtual food drive. There are many people who cannot obtain food during this time. Our own Marlboro Food Bank is completely shut down. You can contribute to the virtual food drive by clicking here:  https://www.catholiccharitiesdc.org/holy-week-virtual-drive/

One of the books that has been on my reading list for a long time is the Italian novel The Betrothed by Alessandro Massoni. I found it on e-books for free. I will read it during this time of quarantine. One of the episodes in the book concerns an epidemic raging through the city of Milan (sound familiar?). There is article about this book. The article reflects upon God’s will and human suffering. Something we are all thinking about. Read the article and then, since you may have the time now, read the book. The article is here: https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/hard-lessons-from-great-literature-in-a-time-of-pestilence

This past Tuesday, if you are keeping up with the daily readings, we had a reading from the Book of Numbers. This passage told of the complaining of the people in the desert. God sent seraph serpents which bit the people with many dying. The people begged Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. Moses prayed and God answered, but not with the answer the people wanted:

So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

God didn’t take away the serpents as the people wanted, but he gave them a remedy for the snake bites. This is how God has answered our desire to be free from the fallen world, from sin and death. He doesn’t take them away, rather He gives us a remedy. We can give thanks to the Lord for the remedy for sin and death given us in the Passion and Death of His Son who was lifted up as the serpent was lifted up. We can engage this infestation of serpents, this Coronavirus, with the knowledge that God has given us a remedy. We can pray for science to come up with a remedy, too. But, this time of pestilence is a time to go deeply into the mystery of evil and the remedy for all evils which is the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord.

God bless all of you, Fr. LaHood