IN HIS weekly COVID-19 statement, Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has said the Coronavirus, in humbling all of us in many ways, has also given us back things that we should not forget.
Speaking at the end of Mass at St. John’s Cathedral on Sunday, which was streamed live online, Bishop Leahy called for the public to join on Thursday in the world ‘Day of Prayer and Fasting and Works of Charity’ being participated in by all religions to implore God to help humanity overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
He said, “The Coronavirus has taken lives. We need to pray for those who have died. It has also curtailed our freedom, some people’s freedom more than others, especially older people at a time of life when they deserve it more than any of us. We need to pray also for them.”
The Bishop of Limerick also acknowledged people’s livelihoods has been “taken away” and believes “we need to pray for those who suddenly find themselves facing unemployment”.
But for all that, he said, that it has given us back things:
“All of us recognise the virus has taken away things that maybe we are better off without. It has given us back things that we should never have given away. We need to pray that we’ll never forget what we’ve understood in this time.”
Bishop Brendan Leahy said the current pandemic is “reminding us of the need to pray”, and “we don’t have as much control as we thought we had”.
“We aren’t at all as self-sufficient as we appeared to be,” he said.
Bishop Leahy said that there are people in the midst of uncertainty and anxiety and many have found themselves feeling the need to find stillness, to meditate, to be more mindful.
“If we’re honest, we are all a little humbler because of this Covid-19 crisis.”
Concluding, he said that as the leaders of world religions come together to invite us to a day of prayer, fasting and works of charity on Thursday, “let’s take it as a chance to accept that we are indeed poor and humble and needy”.
