If you have not heard of the coronavirus by now, then maybe you have been holed up somewhere in Bermuda or are already living the afterlife without knowing it. Called COVID-19, the pandemic has made its way from Wuhan in China to different places across the world.
More than 3,000 people have died worldwide and the numbers keep coming. In Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo and Egypt among others, summing to more than 100 cases in the continent. There could not be a better time to pray for both the people infected and the ones who are looking after them in healthcare centers.
For The Brethren
Coronavirus has more or less driven a wedge into the world’s religious system and the underlying practices. Before now, the Pope would come out in St Peter’s Square to address catholics. But Pope Francis I’s most recent admonition was delivered via a live stream.
This digital method was resorted to in order to avoid crowds, within which contact can be made and the virus thus spread. From Ghana to the United States and the European continent, catholic churches have changed the way they carry out Mass because they want to stop the infection.
For now, priests are placing wafers—the eucharistic bread—on people’s hands rather than their tongues. They have also stopped the administration of consecrated wine from the communal chalice. That’s not all, because rather than shaking hands and embracing during Peace of the Lord, members are now simply praying for the persons seated next to them.
For The Mohammedans
Islam has had its own fair share of changes due to the fear of Covid The Rampant. For starters, the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which is usually filled to the brim with thousands of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world, has experienced a dramatic fall to what is regarded as the holiest sites in the religion.
Well, the Grand Mosque has been reopened after it was shut down for thorough sterilization. However, there is now a definite barrier around the sacred Kaaba in the center of the mosque, meant to stop people from touching it. This happens while there is a ban on foreign muslims to both Mecca and Medina.
Usually, devotees from across the world would be going there for Umrah, which unlike the more known Hajj can be carried out just about any time of the year. 8 million muslims make this trip every year, but the numbers reflect the sadness on the part of pilgrims whom the virus is preventing them to worship properly.
Nevertheless, a strange way of celebrating mass or a truncated Mecca visit is not enough to put the situation into prayers. Christians and Muslims are advised to intercede for the people who are infected by coronavirus as well as the protection of healthcare workers around the world. It is a dangerous pandemic, but we believe it is not yet the end of the world.
