Let Us Pray

Yesterday, as I passed the spectacular St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Washington DC, I looked up to see a singular white paper posted evenly on every sculpted metal door.

Knowing the church would be closed, I felt compelled to climb up the many stairs to get to the top to read the notice.

Let us Pray

The Cathedral is closed because of the coronavirus.

Let us pray for everyone’s health and safety and the end to the spread of this virus.

GOD BLESS YOU!

The churches are closed. The synagogues are closed. The mosques are closed. Restaurants and bars are closed. Despite the shut downs, please remember to keep your heart open.

We can still pray for our physical health and our spiritual resilience.

We can still call our neighbors and friends to make sure they are okay.

We can still appreciate our abundance in the absence of certainty.

We can still find a tiny spark of joy to light up the darkness.

And we can still imagine a post coronavirus world that Isaiah, the prophet, envisioned.

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6