By Bernie V. Lopez
As seen on the March 2020 issue of Philippine Tribune
If prayer can save us from a volcano, can it save us from a virus?
The Bubonic Plague in the 14th Century killed about 50 million, which was 25% of the European population then. The Spanish Influenza in 1918 killed about 50 to 100 million, 3% to 5% of Planet Earth. World War II killed about 70 to 85 million or 3% of the 1940 population of about 2.3 billion. The First World War killed about 20 million. Mankind has been undergoing regular cleansing through the centuries. (Wikipedia).
The spectre of a global pandemic today will exceed all these figures by far because the world is far more crowded today. The speed of infection is unimaginable in the coronavirus because (1) it is airborne, (2) capable of human-to-human transmission, (3) no known cure yet, and (4) rapid mutation making vaccines obsolete fast.
We may be at the crossroads of what the Book of Revelation calls the era of tribulation as described in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ━ wars, pestilence, death, and famine. All these seem to be happening all at once in 2020, the year of the rat.
Some say it is a tall order, but others with faith say, nothing is impossible for the Lord in His infinite mercy. So, we gather once more in the Internet, a million strong perhaps, asking first, for forgiveness for our sins, and second, for salvation from a looming global pandemic. Let us all pray together to Jesus of Divine Mercy from our keyboards and keypads.
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