Patheos

BuddhistCatholicContemplativeEvangelicalGeneral ChristianHinduJewishLatter-day SaintMuslimNew VisionsProgressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Patheos

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Messy Inspirations

Trump Has Coronavirus

Last updated on: October 2, 2020 at 3:31 am   by Fellow Dying Inmate

Trump Has Coronavirus 2020-10-02T03:31:02-04:00 Fellow Dying Inmate

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Trump Has Coronavirus

Trump Has Coronavirus/ Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

President Donald Trump has COVID-19.

Trump Has Coronavirus. This virus doesn’t care about your status as POTUS or peasant. The best medical attention this world can provide is useless. It doesn’t matter if you are Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, or Xi Jinping, fellow dying inmates. If you are high risk and your health isn’t up to the novel Coronavirus, and you get infected, you’re dead. It’s as simple as nailing an old-style coffin.

What to do, U.S. Catholics? Trump Has Coronavirus. Should we weep? Celebrate? 

Some are shouting with joy tonight. Maybe the problems of our country will be solved quickly? Let’s not kid ourselves. Watch the video…

https://youtu.be/ONJqF8bECc4

Trump Has Coronavirus

Many of us may loathe Trump, but I must never forget that he is our fellow human being, indeed, our fellow dying inmate. I am just going to talk about me right now. I am no one to tell anyone else how to feel and think. This is just how I am feeling and thinking around 2 AM. Other than accepting the reality that we are, all of us, terminally ill, there are no judgments offered.

Trump Has Coronavirus. I can’t stand Trump. I won’t pretend otherwise. He is an existential threat to the world—that’s just how I see it. Trump represents the worst aspects of what it means to be an American, and he drags our country down into hell. I get sick thinking about him. He’s stroke-inducing.  

My First Reaction to “Trump Has Coronavirus!”

Just now, when my best friend texted me the news that Trump has coronavirus, so many feelings rushed through me. The sarcastic monster peeked out and wanted to spit the half-truth, “Thoughts and prayers!” There’d be plenty of thoughts, bitter glee, and delight in seeing hubris get punished poetically. But no prayers. Think me ugly? Hey—let your fellow dying inmate, a soon-to-be corpse feeding worms, be honest.

On social media, I wanted to offer callous spite—“All lives matter!”

Then my superego, costumed as my conscience, wagged its finger and began to sanction me by guilty feelings. But psychological guilt isn’t the work of the Holy Spirit or my authentic inner voice. It doesn’t produce true prayer—the fire that transforms. It doesn’t help me see my illusions and drop them.

Trump Has Coronavirus & Waking Up

But then I remembered what a Happy Wanderer, the great Catholic saint Father Anthony de Mello, taught me about awareness. (By the way, I’ll call that Jesuit who saved my life a million times “saint” and “great” before you ever hear me do the same for some recently canonized popes). De Mello taught us four critical steps—

One, OBSERVE.

Watch my emotions. I must watch myself like I am watching someone else (I really am, as my “self” is actually a construct). I shouldn’t be the spotlight. Instead, I must be somewhat like a floodlight. Recalling de Mello, I must watch my emotional reactions. “Bill is angry. Bill is sad. There is anxiety in Bill.”

Two, UNDERSTAND.

I need to understand that NO ONE, not Donald Trump, and not anyone else, places negative feelings into me. Or pleasant emotions, either. People do just or unjust actions. They act in kind or unkind ways. But they don’t make me feel happy or sad or angry or bored, etc., despite our language telling us otherwise. We react mostly from programming and from a mix of nature and nurture. No one really has the power to upset me or make me delighted. My emotions are inside me, and they don’t exist out there. Therefore no one can put them into me. As De Mello says, when it rains on your picnic, is the bad feeling you get in the soggy food, or in you?

Three, REALIZE.

I must realize that while my emotions are real, and I must not suppress or repress them, they are always changing. These emotional states are transient, and thus, come and go. The “I” remains. So while I do feel angry, or vengeful, or guilty, or pleased, the “I” is never angry, or vengeful, or guilty, or pleased. I should watch that like someone observing a storm sweeping in. It will, eventually, depart. I am, therefore, not the storm. What I am, in this analogy, is the sky.

Four, CHANGE.

The only one that needs to change is me. When change comes to me, the world will change effortlessly. Then I may spring to action and go change the government. Or not. But until this person changes, this mystery called “fellow dying inmate,” I am just replacing a pack of wolves with more wolves. First, I must wake up. And the truth is, fellow dying inmates, I don’t want to wake up. It sucks. It is painful. Terrifying. But needed.

So our fellow dying inmate, Donald Trump, is sick. Trump Has Coronavirus. So also his wife and members of his staff.

Kyrie Eleison. Bring healing to him and his family and staff, O Lord. And also biomedical health.

Help us wake up and be healed. Mercy in everything. Through Jesus. 

 Amen.

Uncategorized

2020 Election

Anthony de Mello

Coronavirus

COVID-19

Donald Trump

Donald Trump infected

Donald Trump is sick

Melania Trump

POTUS

Trump has coronavirus

Trump has COVID-19

Previous Post



September 30, 2020

Embarrassment Worldwide

Next Post



October 6, 2020 Holy Person: The Biblical Sense


Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019


Follow Us!

Follow Us on Facebook



TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the primary light source in Biblical times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bonfire Candle Torch Oil lamp

Support this
Column

Related posts from Messy Inspirations

Catholic

Understanding Apocalypse & Its Creatures

Messy Inspirations

Catholic

Overrated Romans

Messy Inspirations

Catholic

Marian Hegemony

Messy Inspirations

Catholic

Mediterranean Mary

Messy Inspirations

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic

Rejecting Doom: Christian Hope And Human Action

Christianity is a religion of hope. We are to have hope and...

It’s What Comes From Within Which Matters

One of the most difficult things for us to understand is why...

Why I Choose the Eucharist Over the Sermon

Choose the Eucharist, Not the Sermon What are we supposed to get...

5 Design Elements Found in Spiritually Rooted Homes

Putting Spirituality Into Home Decor Our homes are more than our living...

Credo: A Story of God Told with the...

About 10 years ago, I began to imagine a personal "Credo" that...

The Anatomy of Divine Revelation in Catholic Thought

The claim that God has made Himself known to human beings is...

view all Catholic blogs

Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Copyright 2008-2026, Patheos. All rights reserved.

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube