Think Of It This Way
By Fr. Joe Tetlow, SJ
Think of it this way: gravity holds me down. It holds everyone else down, too. But this is a personal matter: gravity holds me down. And in the same way, the sun warms my face and arms. It warms everyone else's faces and arms, too. And it warms the little green leaves and the massive cacti, the water in the sea and the stones in the mountains. But it warms me, personally, and I am correct to take it personally because it is a gift.
Look at air, too. Oxygen nourishes my lungs and all my molecules. It nourishes everyone else', too—and all the animals and plants too. But I'm the one breathing right now, and the oxygen keeps me, personally, alive—just as it does everyone else.
Like gravity, the sun, and the air, God our Creator and Lord is creating me at this moment. He is also creating everyone else and everything else—from the smallest atomic element to the farthest sores of space. God is creating. Personally.
There's a glitch in thinking this way. We're going to get to the coronavirus. It's also something that affects me personally—and it affects every else, too. So: this is sin.
So, there we are.