Prayer is Our First Line of Defense Against Coronavirus

Pray and do penance that this scourge may be ended!

From the National Catholic Register

By Joseph Pronechen

“My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. ... Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him...”

If you’re worried or at least uneasy about the threat of the coronavirus, you’ve heard what doctors are saying. But there is something you’re not hearing, and that is the first line of defense against it.

But we’re not hearing about the first line of defense — a line of defense that Vice President Mike Pence was widely mocked for on Feb. 26 (Ash Wednesday) when he bowed his head and prayed for guidance with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

But we shouldn’t mock prayer. We should be different. The Lord has given directives. Before we get to one particularly powerful prayer, let’s take that picture and look at a couple of very important Biblical messages.

Timely Reminder

One of the daily readings at Mass recently was from Jonah who “had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,’ when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.”

The chapter goes on to tell us the king himself “laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.” Then he proclaimed a fast for all the people and even animals of the place. And here’s the key: he said, “Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish.”

And God saw “by their actions how they turned from their evil way” and he did not carry out the sentence decreed.

Even wicked Nineveh didn’t mock prayer.

Good Medicine to Take

The Book of Sirach gives this advice and insight on steps to take. Notice what comes first:

My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
and cleanse your heart from all sin.
Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
do not let him leave you, for you need him.
There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis
and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.

Pray This Psalm

Psalm 91 is the prayer of Assurance of God’s Protection. Pray it often. Pray it daily. Not just during this coronavirus time. Pay careful attention to verse 6.

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
    who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
² will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
    my God, in whom I trust.”
³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence;
⁴ he will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand;
    but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only look with your eyes
    and see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ Because you have made the Lord your refuge,^[a]
    the Most High your habitation,
¹⁰ no evil shall befall you,
    no scourge come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will give his angels charge of you
    to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you dash your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder,
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
¹⁴ Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him,
    and show him my salvation.

(Note: This is the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. The New American Bible translates verse 6 this way: Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon.)


Pray Psalm 91 as all prayers should be prayed — with trust. What Jesus told St. Faustina (Diary 578) can apply here too: The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is — trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.