If we look at the reaction to this state of affairs among the leaders of the Church, we may be surprised to see the shepherds scatter and the churches closing to the people. The pope no doubt was behind the decision to close all the churches of Rome, but the clamor of cardinals and others forced a volt face the day following the announcement. While there would be no public Masses, still the churches would be open for prayer. If one could identify a far more grievous affliction in the soul of churchmen, one would have to point to a lack of Faith. God seems to have nothing to say as to either the cause or end of the coronavirus pandemic; the Church has no business with it. The solution must be left up to politicians or scientists. But this blindness, not only restricted to modernists, is to be found in the ranks of so-called traditional Catholics, who preach the gospel of prudence. By all means, they seem to say. Close the churches; we can please God just as well as home as at Mass, after all. Thus speak these modern Luthers.
The answer to the coronavirus must be looked at in relation to the Ruler of all, that is to say God. This virus is a punishment for sin; it is as simple as that. If we look to the many plagues and epidemics of the past, Catholics reacted in a far different way than their modern counterparts. The Catholic of the past saw rightly the hand of God in all events. God was not simply a watchmaker, as thought the Freemasons, who started the universe and left it to run by itself. He both was Creator and Sustainer of all things, governing all things, whether in the lives of individuals or of nations. Yes, God uses secondary causes to accomplish His Will, but it is His Will that is being accomplished. Modern Catholics are under the illusion that God leaves the rule of all things to politicians, and all knowledge to scientists. But this is only an illusion. God rules all things for His glory, and when men turn away from the true religion, there will be consequences. Sin merits punishments. If we read the Old Testament, we see how the people of Israel suffer very real punishments for sin, and these not only individually but as a kingdom. The northern kingdom was destroyed, as was later Judah, because of idolatry. The Israelites in the desert were sent serpents that killed many because of sin. The saints in the age of the Church saw in the plagues and natural disasters the hand of God who was offended by the sins of men. And so we come to the heart of the matter.
The Catholics of former ages, in the face of natural disasters such as plague or famine, took to the streets and formed processions to beg God's mercy. Men flocked to the offering of Holy Mass, either in the churches or outside of them to beg that God's wrath be stayed and the plague cease. Holy Mass, says the Council of Trent, has as one of its effects to appease God's wrath for sin. Modern Catholics no longer believe in the justice of God. But justice is one of His perfections. There is a Hell where sinners who die in the state of sin go to be punished eternally. Sin has real consequences.
Modern Catholics turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the reality of sin and God's justice. They are blind to the very real punishment awaiting a country for abortion, for adultery, for living together outside of marriage, for conceiving children outside of wedlock, for gay marriage, for transsexualism, for pornography, for the use of drugs for pleasure, for false worship such as that of the Pachamama in the very garden of the Vatican, for false religion, for working on Sunday or buying unnecessarily on Sunday, for setting up States that do not think that they have to answer to Almighty God.
We are on the edge of an abyss. We must not keep people from Mass, but bring them to it, to beg in the Holy Sacrifice for the forgiveness of our own sins, and the sins of our nations. We must take up the Rosary and beg the Mother of God for her intercession; we must form processions as did St. Gregory the Great during the plague in Rome. God will be not be mocked. Sin is real, and the justice of God is real. Do we desire life or death? It is our choice.
