SARS: A New Vocabulary...
Looks like we are in for a nasty fight with this flu bug that has been terrorising the people of the region and as far as Canada. Precautions have been taken and people are naturally concerned and frightened about how all this is going to play itself out. Even in my parish, we are not taking any chances. We are asking our parishioners to avoid taking communion on the tongue as all communion will be now be received by hands, until further notice. We are also scrapping the holding of hands during the Lord's Prayer and the shaking of hands for the sign of peace. A perfunctory nod to one another would suffice, for now... Even the holy water fonts will be emptied, to avoid any dipping of fingers and the spreading of germs, etc.

Meanwhile, the outlook of the world doesn't seem to be great either, judging from the war in Iraq that has now gone into its tenth day of engagement. All accounts for a quick and easy warfare seems to be in question now as the Iraqi forces put up a surprising resilient front to repel the coalition forces. Still the might of the US and Britain may have a word or two to say about how they want to get Saddam out of Iraq. Perhaps the acid test would be faced when the city of Baghdad is finally reached and the final showdown is at hand...

A world that has been floored by a disease and a war. What will happen next?...It doesn't need a meteor or any other heavenly body to destruct civilisation as we know it. We seem quite comfortable in doing that ourselves.