Our job is to love others
without stopping to inquire
whether or not they are worthy.
That is not our business and, in fact,
it is nobody’s business.
What we are asked to do is to love,
and this love itself will render
both ourselves and our neighbors
worthy if anything can.
~Thomas Merton from Catholic Voices in a World on Fire
This is a time of too many seriously ill people and too few resources to care for them intensively, therefore doctors and nurses are placed in an ethical dilemma: they must decide who receives the critical care needed to save them and who doesn’t. It is an awful and awe-filled dilemma – no one wants to be in the position of deciding who is “worthy” of the only ventilator available, or the scarce medication, or the only empty ICU bed. Yet medical professionals are trained in triage to assess who is most likely to survive thanks to an extreme and immediate intervention and who would be unlikely to survive – essentially, who is “worthy.”
Thankfully, God doesn’t have to triage His children, deciding who gets His intervention and who must wait or go without care. God is not faced with limited resources. God has no dilemma about our worthiness: we are worthy because He loves us and we are His.
So should we love one another as best we can, even in times like these. We share, we give, we serve, and yes, we will sacrifice.
No less than what God has done for us.
This year’s Lenten theme for Barnstorming:
God sees us as we are,
loves us as we are,
and accepts us as we are.
But by His grace,
He does not leave us where we are.
~Tim Keller
1 O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.
2 O Light that follow’st all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
may brighter, fairer be.
3 O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow thro’ the rain,
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.
4 O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms red,
life that shall endless be.
Barnstorming 
Emily, you are deeply on my mind these days, and I’m committing to pray for you every day. How ARE you? (Oh, Abba, keep and hold and nourish and protect, dear Emily and all those dear to her.)
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Beautiful, timely, necessary post. Thank you. I do hope you are well.
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Triage, rationing, shortages of every day ‘necessities,” empty shelves in grocery stores and pharmacies are new to Americans (since WWII) and frightening realities for most of us. (The poor, homeless, handicapped, unemployed have lived with those realities for perhaps most of their lives.) Many just take for granted that our needs will always be met. We may be so content in our self-contained, independent lives that we may also take our Creator-God for granted.
Even worse: I have overheard conversations as I shop, or wait in doctors’ offices, that actually indict our loving God for this evil, inferring that this is how He repays us for our sins! When I hear this I wish I had tape available so that I could tape my mouth shut tight.( I am a descendant of Gael-Irish ancestors, Christian and former Union Local leader who usually fight back when we hear attacks like this!
I am literally sick with fear and heart-racing concern about what has engulfed our world right now – as we face another deadly pandemic( plague) that is running rampant in nearly every corner of the world — perhaps for an indeterminate time. I have concern (and much respect) for the unselfish doctors, nurses –all medical and other vital personnel who are on the front lines caring for the victims, fully aware that they, too, may become victims.
Covid-19 (surfaced in late 2019) is one more such calamity that has occurred among humanity in the past few years, this time in the largest, most populous country in Asia. Scientists tell us that it began with human consumption of certain animals considered ‘delicacies’ in their menus.
What the present elected leadership of the United States IS fully accountable for is the health, safety and Constitutional rights of its citizens. Each of them! All colors and Creeds, All social strata, All opinions….
Unfortunately, that assumption is completely alien to the current president, his inept appointed department administrators, lifetime Supreme Court appointees, and White House West Wing ftaff sycophants. I know that I should not judge. The Father has ceded that right to His only Son who paid the price by His humiliating, painful death splayed on a Cross. To wit:
With that statement, I cannot help but recall MATTHEW’s Gospel (Jesus’ Parables re ‘Judgment’):
(1) Matthew: 7:15-16 – .By their fruits you will know them (false prophets)
(2) Matthew: 13: 24-30 – re Wheat and Tares (chaff, weeds)
(3) Matthew: 25: 31-46 – re separating the sheep from the goats
:
If we go through with the November election (the president’s idea), I will fill in one name and one name only on the ballot:: JESUS THE CHRIST, CREATOR-GOD OF ALL THAT IS AND EVER WILL BE. As of this tragic moment is our human history what I really would like to do is to fall on my knees in tears and supplication and crawl on my belly until I reach the arms of my Savior — the Savior of us all. But I cannot quit. Each of us has a job to do. We need to be aware of the pain of our brothers and sisters, to be available to give to them whatever they need. That is what Jesus would do, YES?
P.S.
I just finished reading Luke 24: 13-59, The Road to Emmaus.
(ca. seven miles from Jerusalem). This is a post-Resurrection
narrative about two dejected, sorrowful Disciples traveling AWAY
from Jerusalem, their leader has been crucified. All is lost. What is there for
them to do now? Whom will they follow ?
I will not add the entire account here. According to several excellent
Christian Commentaries I used in our Scripture study years ago,
Jesus appeared to the Disciples, reminded them of the Hebrew Scriptures
about the coming of the Messiah, etc. and sitting down sharing a meal
with them, He then disappeared from their sight.
They were filled with awe and joy. Immediately they turned around and
hurried BACK to Jerusalem. They knew, in their souls and from Jesus’
words to them, that they needed to be where Jesus was, where He taught
and ministered and that He gave His life for all — outside Jerusalem..
Instinctively, they understood from Jesus’ words and actions that that was
where they needed to be, to continue Jesus’ ministry.
(We know from Scripture and much from human history that several persecutions
would follow and that the Disciples would be sorely needed.)
And — many of Jesus’ Disciples and followers would, themselves, be innocent
victims.
That is why I will not, can not turn away from this terrible time. All people of faith
and compassion must stand with our sisters and brothers.
Whatever the outcome. Whatever the suffering. Because we have our faith in Him
to protect us and to be waiting to welcome us into the Eternity of Paradise — with Him.
FOREVER!
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Thank you, Alice!
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Doing okay and trying to do as much medical care as possible through telehealth to minimize exposure of healthy people coming to clinic as well as my own risk given my age. So appreciative of your prayers for those on the front lines.
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