Corona

A few thoughts on THE current subject for my non-Italian friends.

I read that here the spread of the virus is roughly 8-10 days ahead of northern European countries, and 10-15 days ahead of North America. So, what we are experiencing now, will come to you in a very short time.

Emotionally speaking, we juggled from being bothered by daily inconveniences, to jokes, to worrying about the probable financial recession we will be facing, to actual fear of the virus, to acceptance of the situation.

Although the government tries to keep people as calm as possible, the news from the hospitals is quite dramatic and when people you know start getting it, the pressure becomes very real.

This is not a normal flu. People start to have a fever and some (a good percentage) later develop pneumonia, which is always dangerous. Older and sick people have a much higher risk to die (we have one of the oldest populations in the world), which partly explains the 4-4.5% of deaths against the 2-2.5% in China.

As you can imagine, this causes fear, and people are dealing with it in different ways. Some tend to underestimate the problem or joke about it, others become anxious, others concentrate into any kind of activity, others believe in conspiracy theories and blame either the government, the Chinese, or you name it. We see all the spectrum of normal reactions to stress and trauma.

Unfortunately Christians are not immune to this. Some will hyper spiritualize the problem or enter "magic thinking" -if I do this or pray that, I will be fine-, others tend to rationalize the situation -i.e. what is the percentage of risk for my age group?-, but praise God, many are starting to come together, pray more, seek the Lord, reflect on themselves and life from the isolation of their homes. It is in times like these that our faith is tested, and we can grow.

We have a Lord of miracles, and sometimes, when we are in the middle of the storm, we can’t really see what lies ahead. The Lord can change this evil into good, transforming a sleeping self-centered church into a living movement for the advancement of the Gospel, and a rebel, materialistic population into a God-seeking one. This is our prayer.

My simple suggestion is this: be prepared. Spiritually and practically.

Elderly and sick people should stay home, now. When the disease is in town, it means it's been already there for at least 5-6 days.

Avoid any unnecessary contact, For others, before than for yourself.

Don't be ashamed to wear filter masks.

Organize your church to have online meetings.

This thing will pass, but it might take a long time. People who are home alone will need to be contacted and encouraged.

This is not the first, and probably not the last pandemia the world has had. In the past something like this would have killed millions of people, but praise God we now have hospitals and treatments (did you know hospitals are a Christian invention?). Lets' pray for doctors and nurses.

Don't be scared, be prudent.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27