Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Love in the Corona era

By Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader :

This is not the first time that the global family has been exposed to a pandemic. Perhaps the novel, "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Colombian novelist and short-story writer Gabriel García Márquez is a reminder of a difficult human era (between the years 1885 and 1930), when cholera was common, including the Asian flu disease (1890) and the Spanish flu (1918). The novel talks about a love affair that lasted for forty years on the shores of the Caribbean Sea.

 

In the 21st century, "the entire humanity" is living through a pandemic, at a time when we seek the values of love in the Corona era and we enumerate the infected and the dead, we find that:

 

These are the sacrifices of the people who are burdened by the responsibility represented in the wisdom of taking appropriate, albeit sometimes, harsh decisions.

 

It is the mother who gives birth to her female child in one of the hospitals of Jordan, and then she passed away, after having been infected with the virus, while her daughter remains alive. "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (Lord Jesus Christ)

 

It is in the elderly priest, in Italy, who saw a young man suffering from shortness of breath. He proposed that his device, which was donated to him by his parishioners, be given to this man. Later, the priest passed away and the young man was healed.

 

Love in Corona era is marked in the few marriage ceremonies that take place in the churches, which allows the newlyweds to consider building their new homes on the rock of love, instead of being distracted by lavish parties.They look at each other in the eyes and do not find a large number of people around them, but they feel great love in their hearts.

 

Love in the corona era is manifested in the crying of a wife over the passing away of her husband, as well as the crying of sons and daughters over the passing away of their parent. He spent two weeks in the hospital without being visited. He died with no one beside him and was buried in a private cemetery with few attendances without receiving a final goodbye kiss on the forehead. I once read that the greatest pain is when a person passes away with others unable to tell him that they love him, or without being able himself of saying so to his loved ones.

 

Love in the Corona era is a prayer said by a bishop or a priest on social media websites that is followed by the infected and other people in their homes where one says to the other: "The Lord is with you and with your soul." It is a worshiper wearing his face mask and carryings his carpet on his way to the mosque on Fridays.

 

Love at this era is when the infected person does not mix with family members fearing of them, and they provide him with food in special dishes, but definitely with great love. It is a good citizen who is keen to follow preventive and safety measures so as not to transmit the infection to his community or to members of his family.

 

Love in the corona era is in the hearts of nurses and doctors who come to treat their patients and ensure their recovery at a time, when they pass away and are classified as martyrs.

 

Love in the Corona era is when Caritas Jordan presents aid to the poor including medicine to the sick. It is journalists, who obtain permits during lockdown periods and leave their relatives behind in order to cover events and press conference, with the aim of conveying the truth to the people who want to know the truth.

 

Love is manifested in scientists who work in laboratories day and night trying to develop the appropriate anti-disease vaccine. It is the security forces who know how to sympathize with the elderly and the needy in times of trouble and distress.

 

 Love is manifested in a teacher who buys a new device and uses a fast Internet network at his own expense in order to convey education to his students staying in their homes. Love is the teacher who walks several kilometers every day to teach his poor students who have neither electricity nor Internet.

 

Love in the corona era incorporates stories with neither a beginning nor an end.Let us greet humanity when it exudes such beauty.

 

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