A 1st Sunday of Lent Thought To Get in Gear

Lent is here. Despite our ongoing C-Virus Mess, it's time to get in gear. With a half-closed, half-dead world spinning around its half-crazed creatures, we've got bigger than usual loads to pull this year.

Businesses and their workers remain in a "half-life" state. With some businesses dead, some dying, some functioning as if nothing's happened. Not all businesses have taken a hit. 

Think of a bowling ball knocking down the middle pins, leaving the corners standing. On the left we have those businesses that, at best, are hanging on by their finger-nails, on the right those cranking out products and services despite the Mess.

Restaurants have to be the prime example of the left side. Frankly, it's amazing to see how many have managed to stay in business, if just barely. Those owners certainly have grit, even if it is driven by desperation. Contrast with the prime example at the other end: Amazon. No grit needed there. This Mess threw highly volatile fuel on a firestorm of business that's been building up for years now.

As for the workers out there, we keep hearing how there are more jobs available, just looking for takers. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Problem is there just aren't enough qualified people to fill the slots. The waiters sitting around collecting unemployment likely won't qualify as computer programmers unless they've already got the training. 

Some of the more industrious sorts out there are doing just that: getting trained. We know some who are working hard to develop new skills with the hope that they'll be able to break in to a new industry soon. We wish them luck.

Of course, with unemployment payments padded by the federal government, you naturally find some who've figured out they can make more collecting a check for doing nothing rather than grabbing a job that pays less. Can you blame them?

We bring all this up simply to make a point that should be clear to most of us by now: The economy's not healthy and isn't "roaring back." Yeah, they say the new vaccines will find us in a hot economy within a year. Indeed, here in New York City, an ad has been running saying that the vaccines are being furiously jabbed at any and all comers at a blistering pace. As a result the City is "roaring back." None of that is true. 

The vaccination rate has been much lower than expected. Why? It seems a combination of amazing inefficiency in administration (worse than even the most skeptical of us had expected) and a surprising (to some) lack of enthusiasm about being stuck with two doses of a drug that's been - under any standard - rushed to market.

Let's switch now to us Catholics. It's now been a year since the churches closed and - eventually - reopened with masks and social distancing. We've talked about all this in the past, so we won't re-hash it now. We do note, however, that attendance remains far below the poor attendance we had before the Mess descended on us. We were already closing churches and Catholic schools before the Mess. What's awaiting us in the future?

Frankly, there's more brewing in the Church that's got us at best scratching our heads, at worst, wringing our hands. If you care about Holy Mother Church you likely have some idea of the disturbing events and trends that the Mess has uncovered and exacerbated. We've been on a slippery slope on the down side of the hill for years now. And this pandemic has simply greased the skids.

So now, on this 1st Sunday of Lent, considering what's around us in our Holy Church, never mind the secular world, it's a good time to get our Lenten discipline in gear. While that's always been the plan for Lent in the past, this may be a Lent for the ages - at least for those of us alive today. Wishful thinking won't make our Mess all better. Throwing up our hands and giving up can't be an option for those of us who've determined that being Catholic is a necessity, not a choice.

That leaves us with our prayer, fasting and almsgiving (acts of charity) - the three "pillars" of Lent. With the load that's bearing down on us, we need those pillars to be heavy and strong enough to hold up under the force that's driving us down. Knowing where "down" ultimately leads should keep us praying, fasting, and being heroically charitable as never before in our lifetimes.

But don't get too on edge here. God doesn't expect any one of us to save the day. He simply expects all of us to do our share. On this 1st Sunday of Lent in the midst of the continuing Mess, it's time to make sure we've all got a plan for Lenten sacrifice, as well as the gumption to carry it out. 

Pray for grace. Allow the Holy Spirit to provide His light and guidance. Then get in gear.

We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee. Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.