Your Response To COVID-19 Could Determine Your Eternal Salvation

Did you ever wonder why obedience to lawful human authority is so important to God?  Certainly we understand that obedience to Our Lord is of paramount importance, but why is it so important to obey our human leaders?  They are sinful human beings just like us.  Why must we submit our will to other sinners?  They can be and often are wrong in their beliefs and motivations.

Yet, we find verses such as these in the Written Word of God:

Titus 3:1 Remind believers to willingly place themselves under the authority of government officials. Believers should obey them and be ready to help them with every good thing they do.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 

Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

God gave us minds so that we are able to think for ourselves.  Why must we submit to human authority, especially when we know, in our great wisdom, that those human authorities are absolutely wrong?

Christianity is full of paradoxes.  Our Lord made many statements that were seemingly contradictory, such as "The first shall be last and the last shall be first" (Matt. 20:16), and "He who seeks to save his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:25).

Our Lord tells us that in order to become great, we must become little and humble:  "Unless you change and become as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of God."  (Matt. 18:3).

Christianity is all about attaining eternal life, but the Bible teaches that in order to reach that goal, we must die to ourselves.  As St. Paul said, "I die daily." (I Cor. 15:31).  Gal. 5:24 says we must "crucify the flesh".  Romans 12:1: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice".  And Colossians 3:3 "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

It is important to understand that obedience is a form of dying to self.  When we obey lawful authority, we are submitting our will - our desires, even our rights - to another.  We are crucifying the self.

Quoting from St. Gregory the Great:

“Obedience, is rightly placed before all other sacrifices, for in offering a victim as sacrifice, one offers a life that is not one’s own; but when one obeys one is immolating one’s own will.”

We are sinful beings living in a sinful world.  All of our thoughts, desires and actions are tainted by sin..  One of the most effective methods to crucify that sin is obedience, first to God and then to lawful authority given to us by God.   This is why Our Lord places supreme importance on the act of obedience.

From St. Thomas Aquinas:

“Obedience unites us so closely to God that in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God.”

St. Faustina wrote in her diary, Divine Mercy In My Soul:

My daughter, know that you give Me greater glory by a single act of obedience than by long prayers and mortifications. (894)

So what has all of this got to do with COVID-19? 

We have lost virtually all of our freedoms because of this terrible pandemic.  Many tens of millions of Americans and others across the globe have lost their jobs as businesses have been closed.  We have become prisoners in our own homes.  All of the many things we took for granted - restaurants and sporting events, concerts, going to the gym, and even simple things like getting a haircut or going to the beach - have been taken away from us.  Here in New York we must basically wear a mask anytime we step outside or risk arrest.

And for those of us who consider ourselves devout Catholics, the unthinkable has happened.  We have no access to the Mass and the Sacraments.  It has now been almost two months since I have been inside a Church, with no end in sight.  Trust me, it is painful.

Many are rebelling against this, considering these orders a violation of our rights.  What right have other people to decide how we live our lives?  We have rights, and no one, not the government and certainly not Church leaders, have the authority to take away those rights.

If this was a matter of persecution, of authority taking away my right to worship, I would be the first in line of civil disobedience.  I would willingly sacrifice my life for the right to worship my Creator.  And I would certainly rebel against any bishop who acquiesced to such authority.

But COVID-19 is not about fighting persecution.  It is about fighting an invisible, deadly disease that threatens to kill millions.  I live in New York City, the epicenter of this disease.  As of today, in New York City alone, there have been 177,481 confirmed cases, 44,256 hospitalized, 14,482 confirmed deaths and 5,313 probable deaths.  This has all happened in less than two months. The whole of New York State has 343,350 confirmed cases and 26,749 confirmed deaths as of today, May 9.  More people have died in Brooklyn than any other county in the United States.  I know this is not a joke, it is not a hoax. This thing is real.

Fortunately, the numbers in New York are going down.  We were once over 800 deaths every day.  Now we are down around 230 deaths every day, a terrible number but not near as bad as it was.  The lockdown has worked here.  I no longer hear the ambulance sirens day and night.  But I also know that the disease is not gone, and if we give it just the smallest opening, we could be right back where we were and maybe worse.

But many in the rest of America don't believe that.  And that, sadly, includes many who consider themselves the most faithful of Catholics.

Many "faithful" Catholics blame the bishops for stopping public Masses and suspending the Sacraments, saying it wasn't necessary.  We could wear masks and social distance at Church.  There are ways around it.

Archbishop Carlo Viganò, self-declared arch enemy of Pope Francis, has written a petition declaring that COVID-19 is a plot by globalists to promote a world government, and therefore all efforts to contain the virus must be resisted.

From his petition:

The facts have shown that, under the pretext of the Covid-19 epidemic, the inalienable rights of citizens have in many cases been violated and their fundamental freedoms, including the exercise of freedom of worship, expression and movement, have been disproportionately and unjustifiably restricted. Public health must not, and cannot, become an alibi for infringing on the rights of millions of people around the world, let alone for depriving the civil authority of its duty to act wisely for the common good. This is particularly true as growing doubts emerge from several quarters about the actual contagiousness, danger and resistance of the virus. Many authoritative voices in the world of science and medicine confirm that the media’s alarmism about Covid-19 appears to be absolutely unjustified.

We have reason to believe, on the basis of official data on the incidence of the epidemic as related to the number of deaths, that there are powers interested in creating panic among the world’s population with the sole aim of permanently imposing unacceptable forms of restriction on freedoms, of controlling people and of tracking their movements. The imposition of these illiberal measures is a disturbing prelude to the realization of a world government beyond all control. [Emphasis Vigano]

Here we see Vigano placing human "rights", i.e., the right to be infected and infect others, above that of obedience to lawful government.  And as one who lives in the epicenter of this pandemic, I can tell you that Vigano doesn't know what he is talking about when he discounts the danger of this disease.  The only way New York was able to get the disease under control was by locking down the state.  If the authorities had not done this, we would be seeing deaths in the hundreds of thousands and maybe millions, and the healthcare system here would have been overwhelmed and destroyed.

There is a reason why you do not see people in New York demonstrating against the lockdown.

And of course, it would not be Vigano if he did not directly attack Church authorities and try to incite rebellion against the Magisterium:

Finally, as Pastors responsible for the flock of Christ, let us remember that the Church firmly asserts her autonomy to govern, worship, and teach. This autonomy and freedom are an innate right that Our Lord Jesus Christ has given her for the pursuit of her proper ends. For this reason, as Pastors we firmly assert the right to decide autonomously on the celebration of Mass and the Sacraments, just as we claim absolute autonomy in matters falling within our immediate jurisdiction, such as liturgical norms and ways of administering Communion and the Sacraments. The State has no right to interfere, for any reason whatsoever, in the sovereignty of the Church. Ecclesiastical authorities have never refused to collaborate with the State, but such collaboration does not authorize civil authorities to impose any sort of ban or restriction on public worship or the exercise of priestly ministry. The rights of God and of the faithful are the supreme law of the Church, which she neither intends to, nor can, abdicate. We ask that restrictions on the celebration of public ceremonies be removed. [Emphasis Vigano]

The rights of God and of the faithful are the supreme law of the Church?!  What the heck does that mean?  I don't find that anywhere in the Bible I read.

First of all, the State has not taken away any religious rights whatsoever.  We still have the right to worship as we want.  There are Masses all over the Internet.  The Church is still allowed to teach and preach.  The only thing that has been taken away is the ability to use our physical buildings to do this, and this has been done only in an effort to contain the virus.  And I for one can personally attest that it works.  Vigano is setting up a completely bogus argument.

Secondly, "asserting our rights" as Vigano has done is going completely against love of neighbor in this situation.  Those who demand their "rights" to assemble in the midst of a pandemic are thinking only of their own wants and desires and not considering the effect on others at all. 

I am amazed that those who proudly wear the label "pro life" are so willing to sacrifice the lives of others.  These people want "their" Mass, and they don't care who has to die for them to have it.  They don't care if, because of their actions, they completely overwhelm and destroy the healthcare system.  It is their right!

Further, those who insist on disobedience to the bishops in this matter are putting their eternal lives in danger.  Disobedience to the bishop is a serious matter.

The bishops, for the safety of the flock, have prohibited public Masses.  If anyone thinks the bishops wanted to do this, they are delusional.  Just from a practical standpoint, the churches are losing a tremendous amount of money by closing the churches at a time when they are just barely getting by.

The Mass is a tremendous gift we have been given and the Holy Eucharist is vital to our salvation.  I have been going to daily Mass for years, and I consider it the most important part of my day.  But I realize now that I am putting other lives at risk by doing so. 

I now attend a virtual Mass every day.  I pray along with the Mass as if I was there, saying all the responses, standing, sitting and kneeling at the appropriate times.  My personal choice is the Mass from the Shrine of Walsingham in England.  I find it to be very reverent.  They also pray the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, they include talks throughout the day, and at all other times they have Eucharistic Adoration.

This is not the way I would choose to worship.  But I believe that under these circumstances, we can receive as many blessings as we would if we physically attended Mass and received Communion.  God treasures obedience above all else because obedience brings us closer to Him than any other act.

”The obedience which we render to a superior is paid to God, Who says, ‘He that hears you hears Me;’ so that whatever he who holds the place of God commands, supposing it is not evidently contrary to God's law, is to be received by us as if it came from God Himself; for it is the same thing to know His Will, either from His Own, from an Angel's, or from a man's mouth.”
--Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the Church

My "good friend" Mary Ann Kreitzer has said on her blog that she attends a drive-in Mass each Sunday that is celebrated by the SSPX.  This is in direct disobedience to her bishop who stated he has not given permission for this Mass to be held in his diocese:

Based on recommendations from the public health and scientific communities, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge maintains his directive that all public Masses in the Diocese of Arlington are suspended until further notice. We have been notified that the Society of Saint Pius X, which is a schismatic sect and not in full communion with the Holy See, is holding Masses in Front Royal, VA. This group did not request permission for their gathering from the Diocese of Arlington. 

Bishop Burbidge highly encourages the faithful to follow the guidance of public health and scientific leaders and stay home whenever possible. In order to stop the spread of coronavirus, all people, including those of religious faith, must be willing to make temporary, uncomfortable sacrifices for the long-term good and health of the community.

This is a picture of the parking lot Mass celebrated by the SSPX in Virginia

Masses are to be celebrated outside of a church only under extraordinary circumstances.  It would definitely require permission of the bishop for Mass to be celebrated in a parking lot with people sitting inside of their cars.  As the bishop has stated, he has not given his permission. Since this Mass does not have the permission of the bishop, it is an illicit Mass.  All those in attendance are disobeying their bishop, so I can only wonder if Jesus Christ is even present.

Mary Ann tries to get around her obvious disobedience by saying the bishop did not specifically prohibit attending this Mass.  He only "highly encourages" people to stay home.  Yea, right.  This is her tortured reasoning:

But did I, in fact, disobey the bishop? This appears to be a carefully worded statement. Nowhere does the bishop impose any kind of judgment or penalty on those who attended the Mass. Ironically, he didn't even urge people not to go. [Mary Ann, the bishop wrote, "all people, including those of religious faith, must be willing to make temporary, uncomfortable sacrifices for the long-term good and health of the community."  Obviously, that means nothing to you.]  He simply stated the fact that, based on government recommendations, he has suspended public Masses in the Diocese of Arlington. Then he urged us to "follow the guidance of public health...leaders." 

Think about that for a minute. These are the same public health leaders who are allowing the slicing and dicing of little babies to continue uninterrupted during the pandemic. Gathering at the abortuary is fine; gathering for the Mass (with more than ten in the congregation) is not. So the bishop tells us we should follow government guidelines. Hmm...we all know what a friend the government is to the weakest and most vulnerable as well as to the Church. Don't we?

We shouldn't try to keep others safe because the government who says this is the same one who kills babies?  With Mary Ann's reasoning, we should not obey any laws of the government and live in total anarchy.  If Mary Ann pays her taxes, which I am sure she does, then she is a hypocrite.  After all, she is paying taxes to a government that kills babies.

The only one Mary Ann is fooling is herself.

We have all entered into a "dark night of the soul" as it were.  It is not government who has taken away our freedoms,  It is not the bishops who have taken away the Mass.  It is the disease.  And I am not sure we will ever see "normal" times again.  This disease has opened our eyes to just how fragile and vulnerable we are.  Everything literally changed overnight.  We live in a completely different world. 

Vigano and all those who stand with him are, as usual, completely in the wrong.  To follow them is to follow them to hell, both in this life and the next.