The Quotation of the Week (May 24 - 30, 2020)

A quotation of Father James Martin, S.J. on 'following Jesus
in caring for the coronavirus patients,'
compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Design: Jerome D'Costa

Italians Turn To Saints For Their Intervention During The Coronavirus Onslaught

Saints -- Italian and non-Italian -- in heaven

Image courtesy: aleteia.org/

Italy, having the headquarters (the 'throne' of the popes -- who were mostly Italian) of the Roman Catholic Church, is a breeding ground for saints. So far, this country has a greater share of several thousand saints than any other country. There are hundreds of cathedrals, basilicas, shrines, and churches with the names of saints. Many lanes and bylanes of Italian cities and towns have little family shrines to Italian saints, who are venerated and whose intercession is sought. 

There are also saints' entire bodies, body parts (skulls, hands, and fingers), other types of bones, and relics in different churches and chapels in Italy. Many a time, veneration of and prayer to saints is overdone, neglecting required veneration of God and Jesus Christ the Saviour. 

Saints work as role models for Catholics. Their veneration is an important part of Catholicism. Seeking their intercession during the time of anxiety, crisis, epidemic, and war is a must for Catholics. There are stories of saints who, in the long past, had intervened miraculously during epidemics. St. Corona, an Italian, is one of them. 

During this COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, many Italians, especially elderly ones, died in droves. Many of them and the living ones have sought the miraculous intervention of God, Jesus, and saints. More than 100 Catholic priests, in the service of the coronavirus patients in Italy, died of this same disease. Other Catholics in the world are desparately seeking the help of saints, too. So far, there is no sign of any miraculous mass cures from the virus attack or a sudden remission of it.

The Catholic Church now is more than 2,000 years old. In the early centuries, men and women, deemed holy by the local populace were canonized on their public acclamation. Then local bishops could canvass for the canonization of persons under their care. It was then easy to get saints in one's midst. Due to natural human frailties, there were some bogus acclamations and some favoritism and nepotism in the absence of a neutral investigative process. Later, as redress to this problem, the saint-making process became a little more difficult and lengthened with the introduction of the 'devil's advocate' (advocatus diaboli). From Pope John Paul II's time,  the devil's advocate position was removed and saint-making became a little easier and faster. 

Please read below for more information on saints:

• Saint Charbel earth to defeat the coronavirus (March 10, 2020)
• In Lebanon, Some Turn To Beloved Local Saint For Solace And Protection From COVID-19 (March 31, 2020)
• The Fourteen Holy Helpers: Plague saints for a time of coronavirus (March 11, 2020)
• These saints know firsthand about surviving pandemics (March 12, 2020)
• Palermo pins hopes on patron saint to rid Italy of coronavirus (March 13, 2020)
• St. Rocco's Prayer: An Italian Tradition for the Good of Body and Soul (March 18, 2020)
• Meet St. Corona, the patroness of plagues and pandemics (March 18, 2020)
• The best saints to pray to during pandemic (March 19, 2020)
• Is St. Corona the patron saint of pandemics? (March 23, 2020)
• 5 saints Catholics are calling on to fight the coronavirus pandemic (March 25, 2020)
• Prayers in the news: Five saints Catholics are calling on to help fight coronavirus pandemic (March 26, 2020)
• Coronavirus hits Italy's St. Anthony's Shrine (March 31, 2020)
• As pandemic spreads, Italy's south turns to Pope Francis, saints (April 2, 2020)
• Coronavirus draws prayers to saints who cared for plague victims (April 4, 2020)
• Saudi governor turns to the Mother of Jesus to overcome the coronavirus (April 7, 2020)
• Articles of faith: Haunting images of Italy's 'incorruptible' preserved saints whose bodies are displayed for thousands to venerate (April 13, 2020)
• 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Vatican City (Wikipedia)
• Patron saints of ailments, illness, and dangers (Wikipedia)
• Italian Roman Catholic Saints
• Saints Resource: SAINTS OF ITALY
• Too many Italian saints?
• How many saints are there? (May 13, 2013)
• How many saints are there? (October 2013)

(Updated on April 14, 2020)

The Good News, Positivity, and Silver Lining In Face of COVID-19 Coronavirus Attack

Six-year-old Ryan Andre D'Costa's art (Dec. 25, 2019)

The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has engulfed the whole world with a vengeance. By April 10,  worldwide, 1,696,244 coronavirus cases, 102,594 deaths, and 375,958 recoveries have been reported (Source: worldometers.info/cononavirus/).  

Millions and millions of people world over have lost their jobs, kept themselves quarantined or isolated not knowing what would befall them further. People of any country, any color, and any status are living in profound apprehension, fear, and anxiety.

In this situation of negativity, bad news, and hopelessness, there are some good news, positivity, and silver lining in different parts of the world. 

Please read the following to keep yourselves and others near you uplifted in spirit:

• Coronavirus: how to stay positive and not let anxiety get the best of you (March 1, 2020)
• How To Be Positive In The Coronavirus World (March 13, 2020)
• Coronavirus: 8 ways to look after your mental health (March 13, 2020)
• 9 Ways to Stay Positive During The Coronavirus Pandemic (March 15, 2020)
• Tips for how to stay happy in troubling times (March 17, 2020)
• Silver linings: how to stay positive during the coronavirus crisis (March 17, 2020)
• Feeling Overwhelmed? How to stay positive online during the coronavirus crisis (March 19, 2020)
• 10 ways to help others during the coronavirus outbreak (March 20, 2020)
• 'We're all in this together': Ontario health centre encourages positive signs amid COVID-19 (March 21,2020 
• Teachers Spread Positivity to Students During Coronavirus Shutdowns (March 24, 2020)
• Youngsters pitching in to bring positivity amid coronavirus chaos (March 25, 2020)
• Chalk messages spread positivity in Metro Detroit during coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis (March 26, 2020)
• Covid-19: a good time to look for good news (March 27, 2020)
• How to Stay Positive During the Pandemic (March 29, 2020)
• Thousands create positive messages during coronavirus pandemic (March 30, 2020)
• Deal Better With Hard Times
• Coronavirus wellness resources to help you stay positive
• Canadian neighbours spreading positivity and thanks during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 1, 2020)
• COVID-19: a good time to dig out good news (April 3, 2020)
• 50 Positive News Stories You May Have Missed During The Coronavirus Outbreak (April 7, 2020)
• Coronavirus good news: we have many blessings to count (April 10, 2020)
• Single mother from Telengana covers 1,400 kms to bring her son back home amid Covid-19 (April 10, 2020)
• Woman, 50, rides 1,400 km on scooty to bring back son stranded in Andhra (April 10, 2020)
• Telengana mom makes 1400-km round-trip on scooty to bring home son stranded in Andhra (April 10, 2020)
• Muslim Men Shoulder Hindu Woman's Bier For Cremation In Indore Amid Coronavirus Lockdown (April 8, 2020)

Greetings to World Doctors, Nurses, and Front Line Workers During This COVID-19 Crisis

Artwork: Adrian D'Costa

Hope and Darkness

By Adrian D’Costa

COVID-19 is the epiphany of shadowy darkness,
It tests our will power and tries to stray us from our usual pace.
Are we afraid of the spread of this virus?
Of course, we are. But we don’t despair or make much fuss.

Some of us are quarantined and many of us are self-isolated,
We do not lose hope, although, for the cure, there is no vaccine or med.
Thanks to our doctors, nurses, and front line workers as they are toiling hard,
The very thought of losing this horrid battle is just unthinkable and absurd.

We, the Humanity, defy to bow down,
And we will find a way as always history has shown.
Our armoured bodies are at Normandy, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele,
As allied troops, we cannot let Human Element falter or fail.
Vulnerable, poor and sick are looking for hope everywhere,
As citizens of the world, with them, love and affection we do share.

Darkness was there before many a time,
It can’t make us blind or make us mime.
Till we find a cure we will fight against COVID-19,
Our next-gen will know, for survival, what does it really mean.

Coronavirus Outbreak Provides A Hey Day To The Sin Counters

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke 

Photo courtesy: Public Radio International

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano

Photo courtesy: dailymail.co.uk/

Evangelical pastor Rick Wiles

Photo courtesy: TruNews via nypost.com/ 

COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is providing a centre stage to the sin counters of various religions.  These self-righteous and judging-condemning people see things in black and white -- sinfulness and holiness. There is no grey area in their sight. They have been pontificating that this pestilence outbreak is a chastisement, punishment, or retribution for sins of abortion, fornication, homosexuality, and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) practices.  

This widespread virus attack and death in the world has levelled everything -- casteism, racism, feeling and practice of superiority and inferiority, richness and poverty, educational and intellectual pride and humbleness of illiteracy -- into a single line. 

Yet, we find that some religious leaders are shouting from the rooftops how God's severe punishment is befalling on the sinners of particular infractions. They are, as if, enjoying their hurtful pontification. 

When people are suffering so badly, when they are in anxiety, and unsure of their future earnings, this type of religious judgment and condemnation is not only pathetic but also shameful. Now is the time when suffering and anxiety-filled populace needs words of comfort, encouragement, and God's love and mercy all the more. 

It is easy to pontificate being in a comfortable and pompous position, but difficult in being in the real, hard, and suffering world. Religious leaders usually are well-trained and well-read in the teachings and practices of their religions. They easily understand and realize what is right and wrong, what verbalizations and actions go against the teachings of God. How many of the COVID-19 virus sufferers have the capacity for understanding and realizing the rightfulness or wrongfulness of their actions? 

If God really punished people for their serious sins, he would do it all the time in world history. According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Adam and Eve are the first man and woman created by God the almighty. Through the disobedience of God's command, they committed the first sin of mankind and were banished to the world from the blissful Garden of Eden. Their sin is called the Original Sin or Ancestral Sin, which gave rise to other sins of mankind. 

If God really took retribution for serious sins through natural disasters (cyclones, hurricanes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, famines, plagues, and pestilences, and man-made disasters like ethnic cleansings, murders, persecutions, revolts, wars, abductions and rapes of women, mafia and gang violence and human traffickings, usurpation of lands and properties, fornications, adulteries, and homosexualities), the world would really be depopulated by this time. The Bible speaks of God's punishment for human sins. According to the Bible description, the creation of the first human beings (Adam and Eve) occurred about five to ten thousand years ago. But in the real world, we find the existence of human beings (through skeletons and other artifacts) in different parts of the world as old as 100,000 to 300,000 years old. So, there were human beings even before Adam and Eve. Why didn't God punish the pre-Adamite peoples for their sins? Were the pre-Adamites sinless peoples?

Later in history, especially in the Middle Ages, we see how the Catholic Church and a number of its clergy in Europe and some colonies committed persecution of and injustice against apostates and heretics -- including people of other Christian denominations and religions, 'witches,' and others who did not follow Catholic Church teachings. What about the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) and the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) in Europe, the First World War (1914-1918), and the Second World War (1939-1945)? How cruel and barbarously evil methods were used in persecuting, killing and maiming of thousands and millions of people? People of other religions also had their own types of sins and injustices. Where was God in those evil times? Why didn't God chastise or punish them?

We see in the first several hundred years of its existence, married clergy were allowed in the Catholic Church. A good number of these priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes had engaged in adulteries, child sex abuses, rapes, illegally giving away church funds and properties to their children and concubines. To redress this situation, the celibate (unmarried) priesthood was introduced for unhindered and fulltime devotion and service to the Lord Jesus and his Church. That change also could not do away the normal human weaknesses and sins of the celibate priests and bishops. This has been well-proven in the last four decades when a good portion of the Catholic clergy (priests, bishops, and cardinals) were engaged in child sex abuses, bisexuality, homosexuality, heterosexuality (sexing with women or nuns, and, in a good number of cases, siring children and secretly paying church funds for their upkeep), misuse or embezzlement of church funds, and so and so forth. The cover-ups of these crimes and sins by their superiors were tantamount to participation in others' sins.  Why didn't God punish these clergy sinners en masse?    

Jesus Christ, who is believed by Christians, to be the second person of the blessed Trinity of God, himself said that sickness is not a punishment from God. We read in the Gospel of John 9:1-3: Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him."

Please read the following for details on the recent COVID-19 outbreak:

Coronavirus Is a Chastisement For Sins

• Assessing the Pope's responsibility in the chastisement of coronavirus (March 31, 2020)
• One of Trump's Favorite Pastors Says, "All Natural Disasters Can Ultimately Be Traced to Sin" (March 14, 2020)
• The Coronavirus and God (March 16, 2020)
• Is the coronavirus an act of God? Faith leaders debate tough questions amid pandemic (April 2, 2020)
• Coronavirus is punishment from God, Pa. lawyer suggests; calls for statewide day of atonement (March 24, 2020)
• 'Presumptuous sins': Pennsylvania lawmaker says coronavirus is divine 'punishment' (March 25, 2020)
• Coronavirus is Punishment for 'LGBT Sin,' Says Far-Right Pastor (March 6, 2020)
• Religious conservatives are blaming gay people for coronavirus (March 12, 2020)
• COVID-19 pandemic: The world's religions and coronavirus (March 16, 2020)
• Rabbi: Coronavirus 'divine retribution' for gay pride parades (March 2020)
• Islamic Scholar Who Called Coronavirus 'Act of Allah' Gets Infected (March 9, 2020)
• Why coronavirus is a punishment from God that should lead to repentance (March 12, 2020)
• Conservative pastor blames coronavirus on same-sex marriage (March 20, 2020)
• 'God's punishment': Muted Nowruz in Afghanistan over coronavirus (March 2o, 2020)
• God's vengeance: the Christian right and the coronavirus (March 27, 2020)
• Natural Disasters Are Part of Original Sin (Sept 27, 2017)
• [Video] 'It's About Sin!' Hermit says coronavirus is a 'chastisement' (March 24, 2020)
• Evangelical pastor claims coronavirus is God's 'death angel' to 'purge a lot of sin' (January 29, 2020)
• Top pro-life leader: coronavirus pandemic is 'chastisement' for sin of abortion (March 24, 2020)
• Irvin Baxter Says Coronavirus Is a Warning From God About the Sin of Fornication (March 27, 2020)
• Pastor: Coronavirus is a Warning from God Because Only 5% of Brides Are Virgins (March 27, 2020)
• Conservative pastor says spread of coronavirus in synagogues is punishment from God (March 29, 2020)
• Insane End Times Preacher: Coronavirus Came About Because of Fornication (March 30, 2020)
• Kenneth Copeland: Fear of the Coronavirus 'Is Not OK -- It Is Sin' (March 11, 2020)
• Coronavirus: Sermon of Saturday March 7, 2020 at Saint-Nicolaus-du-Chardonnet (Paris) (March 16, 2020)
• The 11th Plague? Pastor Claims Coronavirus is God's Punishment for Sin (January 31, 2020)
• [Video] Pastor says coronavirus will "purge sin off our planet" (Feb. 3, 2020)

Coronavirus Is Not Punishment For Sins

• Can God Use the Coronavirus for Good? (March 19, 2020)
• WATCH: Pope Francis blames coronavirus on nature 'having a fit' over environmental damage (March 24, 2020)
• Faith leaders reject the idea that coronavirus is punishment from God for a sinful world (March 25, 2020)
• There is nothing pro-life about exploiting a pandemic to further a political agenda (April 4, 2020)
• Is the coronavirus an act of God? Faith leaders debate tough questions amid pandemic (April 5, 2020)
• No, God Did Not Send Coronavirus To Punish Us for Sin (April 2020)
• Is the Coronavirus Evil? (March 17, 2020)
• Why Zika, and Other Viruses Don't Disprove God's Goodness? (A microbiologist reflects on the problem of evil in human diseases) (August 14, 2018)

Should People Attend Church Services En Masse?

• Vatican says public will not be admitted to papal Holy Week liturgies (March 16, 2020)
• Vatican extends lockdown measures to Easter Monday (April 3, 2020)
• Vatican says general absolution may be permissible during pandemic (March 20, 2020)
• Coronavirus may cause 'grave necessity' for general absolution, Vatican says (March 20, 2020)
• Message on the Combat against the Coronavirus COVID-19 (March 21, 2020)
• Cardinal Burke says faithful should attend Mass despite coronavirus (March 24, 2020)
• Bishop Sneider: Priest don't have to obey bishops, govt who suspend Mass over COVID-19 (March 30, 2020)

The Quotation of the Week (April 5 - 11, 2020)

A quotation of Abhishek Ratna on 'changes that will come
with the COVID-19 outbreak,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (Flowers in Toronto: June 30, 2019) © Jerome D'Costa

Surviving the COVID-19 for the Sake of Survival (A poem)

Image courtesy: cityofroseville.com/

Surviving the COVID-19 for the Sake of Survival

By Adrian D’Costa

Streets that had the hustle and bustle

everywhere and the hubbub was frequent

is now empty.

Empty without the liveliness.

COVID-19 Coronavirus. The name it is.

The death. The Grim Reaper.

Everywhere you go.

Waiting to strike at 12 o’clock at night.

Not even the Canadian Prime Minister’s true love for his

wife could protect her from contracting this highly contagious

illness. Love. A word with four little letters.

Are given away and taken in by people

all around the world.

Evilness is subsiding.

What we have is asking for forgiveness

and the mentality of being changed.

From Prime Minister to President to healthcare professionals

to doctors to nurses to government officials

to public figures to people like you and me

are worried about death. Worried for the people around us.
Worried for the world.

For friends and family members.

For the world and the nation.
How many innocent people have to die?

Today our leader Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau urged the Canadians

not to tackle this as a primitive elementary

issue constricted within the boundary

of our border but as a global issue

by following the rules of battleground

of the medical field and by being a true Canuck

united to one Tough and Rough Ice Hockey Team.

Because in the past we have seen over and over again,

what Canadians did to outlast, to outmaneuver, and to outwit

every pestilence, every war, and every burning matter

of our lives by being the citizens of this world

and being united near the brunt of the fire.

Yes. We saw the Canadian

lives being lost unexpectedly.

But we will win this.
We will get through this.

Believe me, my fellow countrymen.

With our Technology and our Intelligence

we will be at the top of our game.

We will contribute to the world

as part of the approach of Humanity

to save the world.

Time is nigh.

Time is short.

Time is not on our side.

But we cannot and must not allow to

smudge off the last imprint of Homo Sapiens

from the caves of this earth.

We have to stop this deadly pandemic.

We have to come as one to work

to uphold our Human Element.

And make the impossible possible.

We stopped the Ebola.

We seized the SARS.

We vanished the Black Plague.

We sent a rocket to the moon and back.

We can’t back down now.

We have to survive

for the sake of survival.

That must be our motto now.

COVID-19 Coronavirus Now A Pandemic In The World

Coronavirus (COVID-19) as it looks under the microscope

Photo courtesy: cdc.gov/

Map showing countries affected by
COVID - 19 virus (as of March 11, 2020)

Map courtesy: cdc.gov/

The World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations, on March 11, 2020, declared Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak a 'pandemic' (an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population). It spread to 114 countries on five continents, except Antarctica, so far. There have been 118,000 Covid-19 cases with more than 4,200 deaths.  

The WHO says Covid-19 is "a pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan, China, was first reported to the WHO Country Office in China on December 31, 2019. On 30 January 2020, the outbreak of this disease was declared 'a Public Health Emergency of International concern on 30 January 2020."

On February 11, 2020, the WHO named the coronavirus disease "COVID-19." 

The WHO also said, "Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death."

There are different types of coronaviruses. The WHO says, "We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time."

For details, please read the following:

• Coronavirus symptoms: What are they and how do I protect myself (March 11, 2020)
• Coronavirus: Eleven of your most popular questions answered (March 12, 2020)
• Coronavirus: what happens to people's lungs when they get Covid-19? (March 12, 2020)
• COVID-19: How long can coronavirus survive on surfaces? (March 13, 2020)
• Covid-19 is not the flu. It's worse (March 13, 2020)
• Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public (Advice from the WHO)
• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Global Map
• Coronavirus: A visual guide to the outbreak (March 11, 2020)
• Map, chart: Updates on Coronavirus cases and deaths around world (March 11, 2020)
• Mapping the Spread of the Coronavirus Outbreak Around the U.S. and the World (March 11, 2020)
• COVID-19 Maps & visuals (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota, USA)
• Here are some of the best maps tracking Coronavirus updates (March 13, 2020)
• Coronavirus: Before, after images show impact of COVID-19 on the world's top tourist spots (March 9, 2020)

(Updated on March 13, 2020)