Coronavirus and Confession
Volume XXIV, Number 5 – March 27, 2020
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
As promised, during this Coronavirus plague I plan to write to you more often. I sincerely hope it helps. I've got epidemiology (hopeful news), Saint Joseph stuff, Saint Anne of Nutley stuff and Other Stuff.
I love when you decide if it's cool, useful, ridiculous, lame, useless--or (my greatest fear) boring!
This is What Happens...You guys are the best! By working long shifts we somehow produced and shipped several thousand Coronavirus Prayer Cards and Miraculous Medals very, very fast.
(If you have no idea about these spiritually priceless medals and cards, it's probably because a web glitch beyond our control prevented several thousand of you from receiving my last Message, which included a short Youtube clip of my father's amazing retelling of the story of the Miraculous Medal.)
These special new cards/medals are already in some of your your homes and we are receiving our first "re-orders" because a good portion of you did not realize how much your friends, relatives, and coworkers would be moved and consoled by this tangible, hopeful gift of divine protection.
This is what happens when you give this lovely prayer card with the attached medal to a friend or relative and they hold it in their hand, read how it was touched to my relics and Lourdes water, and see that beautiful, traditional prayer: they naturally react by saying, "Do you have any more for my neighbor, my grandmother, my best friend, my son who is a doctor, my cousin who delivers the mail, etc?"
So, if you have yet to order these powerful tools of spiritual protection and evangelization, go for it. When Immaculate Mary is involved, miracles will happen.
Finally, at the suggestion of a CatholiCity Citizen, as of today, you can now order in bulk (that is, by cases of 100) for a significantly reduced minimum donation. This will aid parishes, too.
Also, although we need a certain amount to cover costs, we were delighted to send medals to everyone who wrote in for a free medal or two, so if you live in the U.S. and need these, don't be shy if you are having a rough time financially. Print an order form or send a note. Here is that address again:
CatholiCity Prayer Medal
PO Box 26101
Fairview Park OH 44126
In dioceses like mine, you can go to Confession by appointment. I heard today about a parish in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the pastor is offering "drive through" Confessions. Perhaps you should suggest that to your pastor? All he has to do is stand in open parking lot.
Even so, what can you do if Confession is temporarily impossible?
First, it helps to contemplate what Confession is (as I explain in more detail in our Going Back to Confession booklet). Although we use the term "forgiveness" in English, Confession is absolution--God "takes away" your sins. Through the priest, God actually changes your soul to wipe away your sins as if they never happened, restoring you to baptismal purity, and, if you committed mortal sin, to a state where you will enter eternal salvation upon death.
Absolution is guaranteed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation if you are truly repentant, confess all sins known to you, and perform the penance.
There are, however, two other ways to receive absolution. First, God can give it to you as a free gift without you asking. One can never be sure if this gift is given by God.
For example, I Iike to believe God gave this gift to Saint Paul, who was on his way with soldiers to imprison and perhaps execute Christians. Saint Paul did not ask for the grace of his conversion. God wanted Paul and God acted. Saint Paul was then baptized and surely confessed his sins to Catholic priests of his time for the rest of his life. (These sorts of divine interventions happen in all ages. Consider what just happened to Roy Schoeman.)
The next way to receive absolution is to ask God directly. This requires you to make a perfect act of contrition. Many of you know this, many of you don't.
It is difficult to experience what "perfect" contrition is because of our fallen nature, yet my personal philosophy is, "No harm in asking; so trying and failing is better than not trying at all." God is perfectly just and merciful; I am content to let Him figure it out.
In this case, one needs to approach God in prayer, confess his sins, make a perfect act of contrition (usually by reciting the Act of Contrition prayer or making a similar act in one's own words), and then promising God to go to sacramental Confession at the first opportunity.
There is no certainty in this case, either, and if one is in a state of mortal sin, one should refrain from receiving Holy Communion (yet still go to Mass, in normal times). We should all attempt to make a perfect act of contrition immediately after any sin.
My friends, we will pray one together at the end of this Message.
The following two audio discussions on Youtube by Dr. Taylor Marshal provide a practical guide to seeking God's absolution without being able to go to sacramental Confession, along with other very useful advice on how to deal with life without sacraments:
No Harm in Asking
There is no Catholic rule (I am aware of) against calling your pastor and asking him to give you the Eucharist he reserves from his private Masses--even at the doorstep of his rectory--especially if you have a pyx to reserve the Sacred Host to bring Our Lord Jesus home to your family and perform a home service.
You can purchase a pyx online very easily, by the way.
In these extreme times, I suspect that intricate canon laws on these matters remain subject to the law of charity (as is all canon law, according to canon law itself) as well as the sound prudential judgment of your faithful priests, given your and his particular circumstances.
'ain't no canon lawyer or the-o-logian, neither, so consider that last paragraph my personal 'pinion.
Still, brothers and sister, there is a war on! It's a supernatural war for souls that never ceases until Christ returns. This plague is one battle in salvation history and I have to admit that I haven't figured out how it all fits together. (I have my suspicions. I am wondering what you think, so if you click reply, please give me a lot of time to respond. 'cause I'm swamped.)
In the meantime, keenly enjoy knowing that the evil one hates the Miraculous Medal, hates Our Lady, hates when you receive absolution, and hates you when you receive the Eucharist worthily.
No Harm in Writing or CallingThere is certainly no harm in writing to your bishop or calling your diocesan offices and asking for your Eucharist back.
No Harm in DrivingEven if you cannot receive Communion despite all reasonable efforts, it struck me this week that you are perfectly free to drive to the four corners of your town. At each corner you are free to plant one of our specially blessed Miraculous Medals (or any Miraculous Medal) in the ground. You can recite the Saint Michael Prayer and the Coronavirus prayer for all the folks in your town while (if you have some) sprinkling holy water. Claim your town for Immaculate Mary! Consecrate it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus!
If your mayor is Catholic, ask him and your local priest to join you.
You can do the same thing to the corners of your home property, work building, or apartment complex. I just did this on the Mary Foundation shipping center grounds and I'm going to do it to my town this week.
There are no rules against any of this. Most you know I'm from New Jersey. And where I come from, if there is no rule, then it is legal until a legitimate authority stops you.
God will act in your town or city. "Ask and you shall receive" is a law of the universe more reliable than scientific or economic law. In heaven you and I are gonna swig or sip or guzzle whatever passes for beer or wine or Scotch up there and learn how these kinds of things we did with childlike faith changed local and world history.
Saint Joseph and You Save the Kolbe Center!You may recall we were facing eviction from our shipping center and headquarters (which we have always affectionately called The Kolbe Center). I asked for your prayers to Saint Joseph. Man, did he act fast!
The details matter little: our wonderful landlord found another way. We've got a new lease! Thank you, Joseph, and thank you, CatholiCity Citizens. You really are the best.
Here is a Joseph Prayer (incorporating the famous "Totus Tuus" motto of Pope Saint John Paul the Second the Great) I composed many years ago and recite every day. Men, pray it out loud, with a strong deep voice:
I am all yours Mary and all that I have is yours!
Heavenly Father, make me Joseph,
in all things and in everything,
and in everything beyond everything,
through my sacrificial headship,
kindness, silence, and purity.
Amen.
He is The Man. He is your man. He is the King of Silence.
Potential Good NewsObviously, I am not a scientist or epidemiologist, but my Coronavirus research has skewed heavily for months and hundreds of articles toward "science nerd" research. I watch no television news. I do not use social media. I read, listen, and discuss matters with intelligent friends.
In a simple summary (which I do have a knack for as a writer) viruses, especially highly contagious ones such the Coronavirus, always "win" in the sense that over the long period of time before a vaccine is developed, a large percentage of the population will contract them because people are social. We breath, touch, talk, share objects, and cough. Being with other people in our homes is primarily how this and other "respiratory" viruses spread. We cannot "win" this aspect of the war.
After the virus "wins," we sign a peace treaty using herd immunity and vaccines.
The goal, as you surely know, is to "flatten the curve" and keep the most vulnerable from contracting the virus before a vaccine is developed, while slowing infection rates so our health care systems can prepare and give the small percentage of severe cases the best chance of survival.
Before a vaccine is developed (a virtual impossibility before winter 2020, in terms of science), however, what is called "herd immunity" will build. This happens as hundreds of millions, and eventually even billions, who experience no symptoms or mild (or at least non-lethal) sickness, become infected, recover and thus develop immunity. Without a vaccine, this reduces the damage when the next flu season comes around.
Because the Coronavirus is brand new, not a single person on earth had immunity to it in late November of last year when it first emerged. This is why it is infecting so many people so quickly in so many places. Dozens of viruses have been around for decades, but we have corporately built immunity worldwide so they do not decimate our populations, destroy our economies, or overwhelm our medical systems (even though tens of thousands still die every year in the United States alone from influenza and pneumonia).
Here is where hopeful news seems to be developing: it is an established scientific fact that the Coronavirus causes little or no symptoms for a large percentage of people. It may be that many millions of Americans have contracted the Coronavirus and already recovered with mild or no symptoms. This means herd immunity is already building.
This is changing fatality rate forecasts dramatically. For example, based upon projections in established models based on these kinds of assumptions, England just downgraded its Coronavirus total fatality projection from half a million to 20,000 yesterday.
We still need to do our best not to expose the vulnerable because there is no vaccine, even if new treatments are being developed quickly, and even if the extraordinary efforts of the United States to dramatically expand medical capacity succeed, as I believe they will, and need to.
(This is crucial because our poorer brothers and sisters in second and third world countries need the mighty and generous United States of America to help them deal with this plague.)
None of this hopeful news is certain, apparently. More real world data is needed to refine the models. That may take weeks. Biologists specializing in epidemiology are finding it difficult to determine "fatality rates" right now because establishing reliable numbers on how many people who have already been infected and recovered without what is called antibody testing is, practically speaking, not feasible for millions of people while we struggle to test for, and treat, active cases. However, these antibody tests are being developed and will be rapidly implemented on smaller numbers. Models will extrapolate from there.
The good news appears to be that with more scientific data about the Coronavirus coming in from all over the world and the sharing of knowledge made possible by the Internet, models are becoming more accurate. Projections of a million or more, or even hundreds of thousands of deaths, in America are becoming less likely. There is even a possibility that there may only be tens of thousands, or even fewer fatalities (however tragic).
In my last message, I recommended Ben Shapiro's podcast as the best summary of these kinds of things. Here is a Youtube version (beginning around minute 15:00) of the latest info where he does an excellent (and humble) job of explaining these new developments in Coronavirus epidemiology. I'll keep you posted.
It is a modern fallacy that man has complete dominion over nature. Nature is fallen. Accidents happen. Diseases such as cancer kill people, most often the young and the weak and the old. God permits (although may not "will") these evils, and can bring good out of them. God alone has dominion. He can and has intervened to save people from plague, in the Bible and during Christian history (as is the case with the Miraculous Medal) and in our individual lives.
Saint Anne of Nutley, New JerseyThis plague is very personal for me. Imagine the United States in 1917, when the population was just over a hundred million. Roughly 54,000 young American servicemen were killed in combat during World War I. Another 64,000 servicemen and women died from disease (mostly influenza) during this war. Over a hundred thousand families--mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and cousins--were heartbroken.
Then, in 1918, the Spanish Flu wiped out another 500,000 to 675,000 Americans, and this is not well known: most these victims were in their late teens and twenties. This would be the equivalent of three million Millenials dying in our time. Millions of families were mourning.
My father's mother, Anne Macfarlane, was a second generation Irishwoman. She was eighteen years old when the Spanish Flu came calling. She lost four brothers and two sisters. Imagine her parents' heartbreak. Only two of her sisters survived. I do not know why my grandmother was spared.
I do know this: my Grandma Anne was a saint. She was heroic. She never once mentioned to me what happened during her plague. She passed away twenty years ago, a woman in her eighties, suffering beyond suffering in her body during those final weeks. I remember her and my father holding a crucifix, in silence, looking into each other's eyes, while she offered her pain for the salvation of souls. She gave my father his great faith, which he and my mother passed on to me.
When she prayed, miracles happened. That is why we call her Saint Anne of Nutley, New Jersey.
Praying an Act of ContritionTogether, this time, really try your best, along with tens of thousands of your fellow CatholiCity Citizens, to feel and acknowledge complete sorrow for your sins. Imagine Christ looking into your eyes as you recall your sins. Take a moment. Examine your conscience. Recall your sins, I say, and how they offend God and hurt others and yourself.
And now, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishment,
but most of all because I have offended thee, my God,
Who is all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace,
to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.
Amen.
My mind aches. Thank you for being a part of my life and this little project of Our Lady called the Mary Foundation. See you soon, on earth or in heaven.
With Immaculate Mary,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder
