At morning mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC, Fr. O’Leary looked out at the sparse, mostly masked, overwhelmingly aged and female group in the nave of the church.

A few couples aside, they were mostly sitting a healthy distance apart from one another. A pudgy man in his 60s in a suit and horn-rimmed glasses, whom Fr. O’Leary recognized as a senior government official, was seated in the front row to the priest’s right, with large security men in suits to either side of him and one immediately behind him. All four wore black face masks that seemed designed to match their suits.

Fr. O’Leary raised his head and began his reading.

“‘Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered. And they were watching Jesus to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for something to charge him with. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand in the middle!” Then he said to them, “Is it permitted on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?” But they said nothing. Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and began at once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.’ This is the Word of the Lord.”

The congregants mumbled in response.

The priest closed the book and composed himself for his sermon.

“Another Inauguration is going to take place today, just a couple of miles from here. Many people may disagree as to the result of the election, or the man who has been declared the victor,” the priest said.

A masked woman near the back went into a coughing jag at this point; eventually she slid over to the end of the pew and walked toward the door.

“But we people of faith must heed the words of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus saw someone in need of healing. But the Pharisees disputed the methods he used to heal this person, standing over Him and telling him it was not lawful to heal except in the manner and at a time approved by them. And when his healing succeeded, what was their response? They went out and began at once to plot against him, discussing how to destroy him.

“But they did not succeed in destroying Him. Even when they were certain that they had broken Him and killed Him, He rose again, and triumphed over all who had hated Him or doubted Him.

“So we come to this Inauguration. Theodore Roosevelt, one of this President’s predecessors, once said, ‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, …who does actually strive to do the deeds.’

“This President is a sinner, as we all are. But we must remember how the Lord has always used other sinners, other leaders, to advance His Will. And we can at least rejoice that the flawed device who has been chosen by the Lord, and preserved through his late illness, to express His Will, is pro-life. Compared to other considerations, this, for good Christians, must be seen as most important.”

An elderly woman in the first row went into a coughing fit as Fr. O’Leary turned and descended the pulpit stairs. Several others, as if cued, joined her.

The owlish government official seated in the front row, inscrutable behind his mask, seemed to nod in grim agreement.

A fit young man in a hoodie, with a shaved head and a goatee just visible under his blue medical mask, sat with his arms folded in the back, his face expressionless.

The priest turned and joined his hands in prayer, bowing his head. “Now let us pray for those struck down so mysteriously by this virus You have sent to chastise Your people, which we may now pray has been lifted from us.”

© 2020 Nolan O’Brian