Let's not feel alone

The pandemic that besieges and infects us forces us to reflect, without too many shelters or life jackets. Covid is merciless, it knows no borders or fences or borders. He strikes without knowing, perhaps even madly, and becomes sneaky and insidious. It can be countered - for now, waiting for an adequate vaccine - with few means available, which we now know by heart, that is with the mask, the distance, the hygiene of the hands ... by making oneself responsible for one's own health and others, directly on the field of ordinary life. But the "red zones" also require a more stringent stay at home, in order not to expose oneself and expose oneself to risks when one is out, at the mercy of possible contacts despite everything. And then here comes the prolonged home moments in which to be questioned by serious thoughts.

 

Because this second wave, to a large extent, has become more branched, touching a little all of Italy even in the most fragmented geographical areas. And everyone has experienced and is experiencing friends, relatives, acquaintances in isolation, under tampon, perhaps in the hospital ... in a succession of news a bit like a war bulletin around. And here fear has reappeared at the bottom of the soul, due to the unknowns that every day can reserve. The fear of being attacked by the virus, the fear of what this can entail in the family and in the most concrete workday life, the fear of loneliness and precariousness, the fear of not making it, the fear of being bent in the physical with suffering and anguish, the fear of the heart that can become empty of trust and hope ...

 

All of this is deeply human. And it stands as a crucial step. In which not to feel abandoned first of all. Of course, you can count on those who work generously, without reservations, with extreme dedication, with competence, on the health field for a proximity that smells of care, concern, attention. Then there remain the grips of the family and the social network which, within the objective limits of many situations and of the necessary distance and indispensable precautions, can support to some extent. The important thing is that no one is left behind. Overcoming heavy retro thoughts, highlighted by Pope Francis in the encyclical "Brothers all", where he cites an unacceptable distortion according to which "people are no longer felt as a primary value, to be respected and protected, especially if poor or disabled, if" they serve more "like the elderly". And precisely in the third and fourth age, within the pandemic, disqualifying inputs have been leaked, in the wake of sadly ambiguous messages compared to the elderly precisely that so much ... "they no longer produce" or are ... "useless". Ugly folds for our thoughts, a bit harnessed in the "red zone". A drift that should not be snubbed, because it can open up other chasms. Finally, but not least (indeed), believers are required, in this very complicated hour, a surplus of prayer so that they do not get lost in the trial, so that there is consolation for those who are struck, so that no one shuns what they can do for others in these situations in the responsibilities they have, so that they do not lose hope as children of God.