Jan. 3, 2021
JAMES PAULSEN 351128******4 From NHLS: Your COVID-19 Rapid
Antigen test result is negative. Ref Number: CG05313998. For more info contact
your doctor or Hotline 0801 212 88
( All of us here
at MD (Mater Dolorosa….old age
home….emakehleni) received am SMS like this.SA is very sophisticated in this
way. ) I would say that we can compete with just about any country in the world
when it comes to the medical field. The only trouble is that the system is
swamped by so many people that only a small minority can benefit by the
expertise. If you have the money you can get expert attention. If not, bad
luck. In such a lop-sided society, it is hard to find the right solution to
help everyone. The tax base of those who earn (or just get) enough is still too
small to support a system where probably ¾ of the population earn only a
pittance. We need more than the wisdom of Solomon. We need the deep deep love
of the Lord and a commitment to be of service to our brothers and sisters who
are less than we are, even though we
may feel that it is asking too much of us. The Lord wasn’t stingy with His love
for us, after all. We have to start seeing things more from God’s point of view
than from our human point of view I thinkl
But there is another huge problem, CORRUPTION. The money
that gets drained off by corrupt individuals or institutions is enormous. It
could go a long way towards lifting the poor out of dire poverty to at least a
level or two above dire poverty.
I was asked to give the homily today on the feast of the
Epiphany, the Three Kings. Of course, from the Christian point of view, the
basic meaning of this feast, the wise men from the East, is that they symbolize
all the other nations besides the Jews, meaning that Jesus came and died for us
all, not just the Jews. But this year, I chose to focus on the epiphany
(revelation) that corona brought to us. Things that were, perhaps, there all
the time but we just didn’t take notice of them very well before. It was like
the star that the Three Kings saw showing them the way to the Saviour. The star had its good side, like that, but
also its bad side, like the fact that it drew attention to Herod that there was
someone who was getting ready to take over his kingshup (Like Trump having to
face the fact that Biden was taking over now, which is so painful to him that
he has to do whatever is possible to make sure that that doesn’t happen. Herod chooses to murder all the children of
what he thought to be Jesus’ age to prevent his taking over. If it hadn’t been
for the star those children, they would have escaped death).
1.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS. Corona caused lots of hardships. People
lost their livelihoods, jobs, homes, apartments, incomes, health insurance if
they had any etc. and here we are, with a roof over our heads, three meals a
day, people to look after us. It may not be 5 star, but we are alive and looked
after. We should stop moaning and whining and be grateful for the blessings
that have flooded our lives. And of course, the corollary, we should be willing
to suffer a bit to help those who have not been so richly blessed. Maybe we are
meant to be the blessing to them.
2. TECHNOLOGY. We have several vaccines now that are slowly
becoming available to people, beginning with the most vulnerable, and, after
some time, everyone. It normally took years to work on such a vaccine,
research, testing, etc. and now it has been done in a year. Astounding.
Amazing. This has also brought to our attention the other technological things
that are slowly taking over our world, like ROBOTS. Many of the jobs that were
promised by the politicians if you voted for them are no longer there. They
have been taken over by robots. Robots, as we saw on the news the other day,
who can also dance a complicated dance.
And it was amazing that so many countries were working at the same time
on a vaccine, and doing it In
record time, what would normally take ten
years, with trials and all, was done in a year. Wow.
3. The
whole world working together to find a vaccine, With the WHO being a kind of
distribution center as various reports were sent in about things people were doing
and the results of their testing to be shared by the whole world. Pope Francis
must have been thrilled. And when you watched the news at night you saw masks
on people in Russia, China, US, Germany, Austria, UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Etc. etc. etc. world wide, which you never could have imagined before.
4. CHURCH—New
ways of being Church were being invented and discovered. ---Evangeliaing via
the media like never before. Church life will never be the same. Zoom, Facebook, Netflix, U-Tube, ---the
church is learning more and more to use these tools .Receiving communion in
your car …who could have imagined such a thing. And hearing confessions at the
car window in the parking lot. And asking seniors not to come to church but to
let the young members of the church to come when the churches were still open
to people. (Something like Trump telling Republican Georgians not to vote because
it was a fraud. Ha.)
5. PREPARE
TO DIE ALONE. The new normal with the raging
virus. No visitors (who could be spreaders), no one to comfort you or pray for/with
you at your bedside. It looks as though this is going to be the way it is for a
while. And I am wondering how a person can deal, in their spirit with
multiple deaths, 5, o5 6, 0r 8 or 10 or
even more. How does one absorb, in their spirit, so much pain and grief and
loss, all at the same time?
( A news item from this evenings
news….the US added another 56 billionaires during the time of the pandemic.
This is sick.)
Jan. 4, 2021
Trump pressured state official
to ‘find’ votes
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In an hourlong telephone call on
Saturday, President Trump pressed Georgia’s top election official to “find”
him enough votes to overturn the presidential election and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” according
to an audio recording of the conversation.
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He told the state’s Republican
secretary of state that he should recalculate the vote count so Mr. Trump,
not Joe Biden, would end up winning the state’s 16 electoral votes.
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Can you
believe this!!!!! What has happened to our country and to the respect we
used to have with the president, even though we may have disagreed with
him?????
Jan. 5, 2021
This morning, There were three things I wanted to do.
1.
Visit the hospital and wish the staff happy new
year and pray for them and the patients in the chapel. I was told that a dear
dear friend, an old time nurse, super dedicated, had succumbed to the virus and
was in bad shape in one of the virus wards. I was very sad to hear that and was
determined to find a way to go up and anoint her with the sacrament of the
sick.
2.
Then, go and get some petrol, since the price of
petrol is going up on Wed. by 40 cents a litre. (I forgot to take my wallet so I
had to use the credit card.
3.
Then continue on the way to the catholic church
in Pinetown to pick up the copy of the Baptism liturgy in Zulu from the priest
there. He left if for me with the guard at the gate, Where I found it.
As soon as I got back home, I received a phone call from the
husband of the nurse, who was at her side (I am sure that he is now positive)
who asked me to come and do what I had more or less planned to do anyway. I
told him I would be there at 2pm and would phone Maureen, the head nurse, for
her to arrange for me to go to the ward.
I phoned Maureen and she said that she would not allow me to
go to that ward because all the patients were infected with the virus and it
was too risky. But she would go to check and get back to me. When she got back
a few minutes later, she confirmed what she had said before that she would not allow
me to go to that ward and that I must just pray for Thandokazi, who was on
oxygen. I phoned the husband, who is also a good friend and explained to him
what she said and he said that he understood but begged for more prayers, which
I promised. Thandokazi, I am so sorry that I can’t come to you and be with you
during this terrible and frightening time in your life. But, just know that I
am praying that God will be merciful to you and bring you back to your health
so that you can continue to bring your skills and your hope to the other virus
patients. But, in the end we say, mayenziwe inthando yakho, may your will be
done. More and more phone calls keep coming in announcing the death of yet another person, or another one being
taken to the hospital. The list keeps growing exponentially.
