[Jesus warned:] “Those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will perish as they did’” (Lk 13:4-5).

24 Mar 2019. 3rd Sun Lent. Cycle C-2019. Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 + 1Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 + Lk 13:1-9. 22 22 Mar 2020. 4th Sun Lent. Cycle A-2020. Jn 9:1-41. Republished to reflect on the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

We do not repent, so we do perish, 
Well said, Jesus, yet we are blind and deaf.

So, when the Twin Towers collapsed on us,
Tons of trouble buried us deep under.

We shoved God aside to do anything,
Now God is crushing us down to nothing.

We used to call out His Name with gusto,
Now even to say His Name is taboo.

We used to fear offending the Lord GOD,
Now just to see the Tablets offends us.

To be righteous used to be virtuous,
Now it is bigotry to be righteous.

Laws used to cite freedom of religion,
Now courts cite freedom from religion.

Truth used to expose abominations,
Now lies fuel endless aberrations.

We used to live in racial harmony,
Now we’re locked in sectarian enmity.

We used to enjoy freedom to express,
Now we express only what is correct.

The news and the views used to inform us,
Now we get these to fool and deform us.

We used to go to school to be wiser,
Now we go to school to be more stupid.

Sexuality used to be exclusive,
Now it’s bestiality to be feasted.

Homosexuality, we used to loathe,
Now it is a norm we are told to teach.

We used to write gender as M or F.
Now we have to choose it from A to Z.

Marriage used to bind family closer,
Now serial marriage breaks it asunder.

A man used to marry just a woman,
Now it’s man to man, woman to woman.

The shriek of many kids used to thrill us,
Now cries of aborted babies haunt us.

Our pay used to buy us a pot of gold,
Now it can’t even buy a bowl of good.

We used to savor the fruit of the field,
Now they fatten us for the butchery.

We used to frolic over the terrain,
Now the land threatens to vomit us out.

We used to welcome aliens to boast us,
Now we fear aliens have come to boot us.

We used to terrify mighty warlords,
Now we cower to mere JV warriors.

We used to tower over the nations,
Now our poles and pillars topple us down.

The tower that crumbled we soon rebuilt,
Now crippling fear is gone and forgotten.

But here comes deadlier Covid-19, 
It fells us defenseless, helpless, lifeless.  

Behold the troubling Siloam Syndrome, 
Torments portend a fire and brimstone doom.

Hear wickedness crying out to heaven,
Tremble as God’s ire is fire that consumes.

If we harden our hearts and not repent,
We perish like the wicked Siloam.

So when we plead too late for our dear life,
"Amen" to us may merely sound like
"Ahhhhkkk!" VSS  

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When [Jesus] said this, he spat on the ground, and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on [the blind man’s] eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam. So he went and washed, and came back able to see (Jn 9:5-7).

© TitoRayBábila, Brieflections C, 12/20/2015, expanded and republished to reflect on the 2020 Covid-19 crisis. Covid-19 attacks lungs, causes pneumonia, damages kidneys. While there is still no antidote to it, it has spread around the world like wildfire. Hundreds of thousands were infected, and thousands were killed.

Picture Credit: fda.gov.