A toolbox for healing. Contending with COVID and ways to carry a sense of fear.

Contending with COVID. Dr. Chris Stravitsch and Fr. Daniel Griffith teamed up for a special Zoom conversation on September 29th on how spiritual and psychological principles and Catholic wisdom can help us live healthy lives in the midst of the tumult. This event was recorded and can be found below; it is the first installment of the St. Anthony Sessions on Justice series at Our Lady of Lourdes.

Since March of this year, I’ve become a true creature of habit. Routine has always been important to me, all those years of growing kids and growing careers put a structure and a routine in place that didn’t change all that much. But I was able to take that to a new level during the pandemic, particularly during the weeks of quarantine. Dinner was at 6:00 pm, Doug and I got ridiculously competitive during ” Wheel of Fortune” at 6:30 pm. The days have had a routine that simply, does, not, change!

So it was helpful, and a bit of a comfort, when Dr. Chris described the many types of loss, including the loss of autonomy, and that with stability and predictability shaky or just plain gone, our routines remain within our control and they indeed have value. In fact we should pursue a routine as a tool to be more resilient.

The discussion, as so often is the case, was some of the best parts of this event. The two of them brought it home to scripture. I’ll hold these thoughts close in the days to come, while I watch Vanna White turn the letters: “A thankful heart triumphs.” “Sometimes Christ calms the storm. Sometimes he calms the child.”