The COVID-19 rates are spiking all over the country, and it’s only going to get worse for some time. We are all terrified, understandably. Most everyone I know is sheltering in their homes and afraid. We’re all asking ourselves what we can do to protect ourselves and our families, and that’s good. We ought to do that of course. But I encourage everyone to also look at any possible way they can to help others– their neighbors, the local poor, their... Read more
I am watching, helpless, as the world ends– not for the first time. When I was a teenager, I watched about three thousand people die. Well, that’s not exactly what I watched. About half of the victims of 9/11 in New York were already dead when my father ran into the house screaming and I turned on the television. There, I saw one Twin Tower instead of two– in the place of the other, there was a column of white... Read more
Yesterday was the last day of winter. I’m told that March 20th is the earliest possible day for the Spring Equinox, the earliest Spring in over a hundred years. It was abnormally warm, as it has been for months, though we try not to think about that. The lilac behind my rental house is already budding; we may get May flowers before April this year. I went for a careful walk in the middle of the day, to get a little... Read more
On this solemnity of Saint Joseph, I want to honor the people who are doing their duty with great fortitude as the COVID-19 crisis goes on. There are many remarkable people stepping up to help others with great courage and decisive action, and we need to celebrate all of them. Thank you to the people who work jobs that are essential for keeping us alive. Thank you, of course, to the doctors and nurses and everyone else who is working... Read more
It was a brilliant, warm Sunday evening, perfect weather for walking, but we did not walk to Mass. The Sunday obligation was dispensed– they didn’t flat out cancel all Masses in the diocese until Monday. There will be no public Chrism Mass this year, no Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, no Good Friday devotions, no Easter Vigil. They’ll decide when to reopen the churches sometime later. We’d watched Mass on a livestream and made a spiritual communion. I thought... Read more
 I have a couple of short blogkeeping and Pezzulo-household-keeping notes I want to give you all here in light of the increasing panic all across the country. First of all, I’d like to invite my readers and followers to pray with us as a long-distance internet family. Tonight, Saturday, at nine-thirty PM Eastern, and tomorrow at five Eastern, I’m going to try to do a live video on the Steel Magnificat Facebook Page, broadcasting right from my icon corner,... Read more
It’s Saturday, when I would usually be running out the door to a vigil Mass, but I’m sitting here in my pajamas feeling awkward. COVID-19 is rocketing through the United States right now, which is terrifying. Sunday Masses have been canceled in many dioceses across the country and around the world. My diocese hasn’t flat out canceled. My friend Michael Bayer has been compiling a list of dioceses that have cancelled Mass or dispensed the Sunday obligation, and you can... Read more
When I took the bus home yesterday after my gory grocery store misadventure, one passenger was wearing a mask, and two had brought their own cans of Lysol. They sprayed the seats heavily before they sat down, effectively turning the stuffy little bus into a sealed jar of aerosol propellant. My lungs were burning and I wanted to cough, but I didn’t dare because I was afraid the other passengers would panic if they thought I was sick. That is... Read more
 COVID-19 has come to Ohio. It’s all over the country now. Last I heard there was a case up in Canton, where I’ve never been but where my computer has decided I am: every time look at Google Maps, the map tells me that I live in the middle of a shopping center in Canton, Ohio, an hour’s drive away. That makes the matter feel even closer to home than it is. Right up until the president’s speech last... Read more
I keep saying I hope that COVID-19 just goes away, and it keeps on not going away. The virus has officially been declared a pandemic. The number of people infected is growing exponentially by the day. The entire country of Italy is currently on lockdown, all public Masses in Rome have been cancelled and the churches are closed. This is terrible, but our Holy Father is trying to make it a little more bearable by livestreaming Mass from the Vatican... Read more
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