Matthew Lee Anderson writes: “We can name the moment the COVID-19 pandemic reached the center of the American consciousness: around 8:30 p.m., Central Standard Time, on Wednesday, March 11. In the span of a single hour, the president addressed the nation, the National Basketball Association suspended all its games, and Tom Hanks announced he had tested positive for the illness. Within 24 hours, every major sports league had followed suit, and the prospect of winning $72 in the office March Madness pool was officially stripped from workers across the country.” The COVID-19 pandemic has struck at the heart of our illusory security.

The coronavirus currently racing across the world and now America has fostered fear and, for some, panic. Fear of the unknown is riveting and saps us of our trust in almost everything, including God. The fear and panic in response to the coronavirus are exacerbated by the subsequent carnage in the equity and financial markets. You see it in people’s eyes as you talk with them and you hear it in their conversation. We are facing something we cannot control—and it causes panic.

The path of the ungodly results in separation from God.

One of the most significant and contentious issues under discussion during the Catholic Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region, held in October 2019, was the question of whether to allow married men in that region to become priests. The reason for this consideration is the significant shortage of priests among indigenous people groups in the Amazon region. “Due to the shortage, many indigenous Catholics in that region are unable to regularly celebrate the Mass and receive other forms of pastoral care.”

God’s blessings flow to the one who rejects the counsel of the ungodly, the lifestyle of the sinner and identifying with those who mock God—but flow only to the one who finds delight in God’s word.

The cultural and ethical confusion over the transgender phenomenon in western civilization is manifested in several ways. For example, this confusion poses potential danger to children 12 and over through the use of puberty blocking drugs. These are children who purportedly are suffering from “gender dysphoria”—the distress caused by feeling that one’s sex at birth and gender identity does not match.

As Nehemiah returns from Persia, he meets four major crises with fortitude and decisive leadership. He is a model servant leader.