"Quiet! Be Still!"

“It seems that some of the most ecstatic dreams I’ve had are Church related and this one tops them all.  At a time when we as Catholics are hurting without being able to attend Holy Mass, receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation face to face with a priest, and the most endearing partaking of the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion.

Finally some of our parishioners were able to get together with our pastor at an evening discussion and just before everyone was leaving the pastor said he would hear confessions.  The first part of the dream that got me excited.  

The scene changed and the church was filled to capacity with perhaps the long-awaited opportunity to attend Holy Mass had arrived.  The task of preaching had fallen on me and each of the clerics were to wear golden vestments since this was to be a Mass with all the regalia the Church would use.

An altar server was leading me across the altar with the Book of Gospels raised high as the alleluia was being sung and everyone standing.  My choice of the Gospel was taken from Mark as he calmed the storm.  “A violent squall came up and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.  Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.  They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  He woke up, rebuked the the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet!  Be still!”  The wind ceased and there was great calm.”  (Mark 4: 37 - 39).

Today, I continued, we are just awaking from the most insidious event in history where every human being has been living in fear of Covid 19.  “Will I be next, or has the virus already attacked me or my loved ones?  Even if I make it through this time, is it possible that the virus will make a second round and my end will be worse than the first time?  An attack from a foreign enemy with guns and bombs could be tolerated, but this unseen enemy has no fear of attacking the most vulnerable persons.”

“Quiet!  Be Still!” I pronounced.  “Jesus the victor over death is here.”  

Too many have contracted this virus and too many more are laying in Intensive Care Units with a ventilator covering their face pumping much needed oxygen into them, attempting to keep their lungs from collapsing.  The numbers of those dying around the world are staggering and nearly all that have succumbed died without family at their side. 

“Quite!  Be Still!” I proclaimed in a loud voice.  “I have overcome the enemy,” Jesus said.

Like a silent stealth sweeping across the land where no-one can see or hear its treacherous approach and each person awaits afraid to hear the words “you have contracted this disease and must go into quarantine”.  

“Then I turned to see whose voice that spoke to me, and when I turned I saw seven gold lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.  The hair of his head was as white as white wool or as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame.  His feet were like polished brass refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing water.  In his right hand he held seven stars.  A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth, and his face shown like the sun at its brightest..  When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead.  He touched me and said,  Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, the one who lives.”  (Rev. 2: 12 - 17).

“Quiet!  Be Still!!”  I boldly announced, “I am the first and the last.”

A dream I shall never forget.  Perhaps this is what we all are searching for with hope and a wish that will overcome this epidemic.

Ralph B. Hathaway, A prayer of hope because of Covid 19.