Profiles in Catholicism
- May 28, 2020
- 16 min read

Cancer and Covid-19

Updated: Jan 11, 2022

A Message from the Editor

The word cancer has a different meaning to those who have cancer and those that love them than it has for others. The coronavirus plague has had a profound impact on cancer patients. They are among the most vulnerable - especially the children with cancer for whom Pope Francis is quoted in this issue. The fear of being infected with Covid-19 has kept thousands away from critical therapy and from the medical care that could diagnose and treat this malignancy.

Alwin Rex a friend of mine in India has a rare form of cancer and needs money for his critical medicines. Please send a donation of $10.00 or more to his PayPal link : https://www.paypal.me/AlwinRex

I thank all of the people globally who gave been praying for my sister Sandra Nary who has Covid-19 especially the children in The Philippines.

For the latest global information on the Covid-19 pandemic, go to our

Coronavirus web.

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A Quote to Remember

“Your journey in life is a bit difficult, dear children, because you have to get treated and overcome the disease or live with the disease. This is not easy,”

by Pope Francis

Special Prayer

A Prayer to St. Peregrine for Sick Relatives and Friends

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty", "The Wonder Worker" because of the numerous miracles which you obtained from God for those who have turned to you in their need. For so many years, you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being. You turned to God when the power of human beings could do no more, and you were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His cross to heal your affliction. I now ask God to heal these sick persons whom I entrust to you

Aided by your powerful intercession, I shall sing with Mary a hymn of gratitude

to God for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.

by Lourdes Sanctuary of Our Lady

Prayer for an Oncologist

Good and gracious God we ask you especially to take care of oncologists. Their work in helping people get well demands a great deal. They often need to teach and explain chemotherapy please assist them Lord. They oversee and coordinate oncology treatment please bless them Lord. They specialize in the use of medications, please bless them Lord. The oncologist often coordinates care with radiation and surgical oncologists please bless them Lord. The radiation oncologists use high-energy x-rays to destroy cancer cells please bless them Lord. The radiation can be given as curative treatment, or in combination with chemotherapy and surgery please bless them Lord. The oncologist meets patients with incurable cancers and needs to find other solutions please bless them Lord. All oncologists need specialized training in order to treat pain and other symptoms of cancer, please bless them Lord. We ask you this through Christ our Lord Amen.

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism

A prayer for those with the coronavirus in nursing homes

Visiting

Oh Father, it is true we no longer visit those in care

But we remember those we know are there:

Whether once a nurse, a writer, a mother

A teacher, a priest, a doctor-social-activist

Members of a circus now using the zimmer

When once they flew and leapt and danced,

And those unknown but known to you who

Sleep, or weep or go about quietly, pausing,

Forgetting, going back to and forth –

And we beg you to be with each of them;

Oh Father, it is true our children no longer visit

But we share the memory of coming and going

Of running to and fro and finding the people we knew

Of avoiding bumping and bouncing into others

And taking a picture-card, telling news or simply

Listening, talking, as children do, about this and that

And learning of very different times and lives

Whether here, there or elsewhere or further away

Of interests sometimes past or wholly present –

And we beg each guardian angel to be vigilant;

Oh Father, it is true we do not know when we can go again

And sometimes we pass where once we could call

Recognising the entrance and the difficulties within

Imagining the struggles to help and heal as weaker

We know, each one grows with the passing of time

And those once so free to roam now resting,

Possibly, before their final parting and last breath

Hopefully comfortable, ready to leave, to fly

Even if unplanned and at an unexpected time to leave –

And we beg the saints to remember them.

Oh Lord, Jesus Christ, I often fell asleep when I went

Or drifted to the television and joined in the silence

Wishing to be elsewhere, talking to someone else

Or leaving before the time to sing the song

Before meals that embarrassed us but was a blessing

To those who listened, smiled and clapped –

Forgive us and renew our going out to others again

Whether old and young together, educating each other,

Sharing lives and experience, helping in being helped

And helping in being able to help another;

Oh Lord, Jesus Christ, our children sat alone and eat the biscuits

Or skipped too soon to roll down the sloping grass

Or sat in clumps beyond the full but quiet rooms

Or chatted to each other, behind a chair, sneaking out,

Or took a book and read instead of reading to others

Or were absorbed in the scrolling screens –

Forgive us and rouse us to see the needs of others

Whether known to us or too far from those who know them,

Or abandoned, neglected or overlooked in the busy times

Of day that need the simple grace of being noticed now;

Oh Lord, we had our favourites and failed to talk with many,

Sat alone and reluctantly stirred, were slow to see

Those without visits, rocking or repeating questions,

Statements, gestures, worries, or troubles, whether

Recent or remote and let slip many moments between

Words and observations and ways of starting up again –

Forgive us and help us to find you in the presence of others

Whether rich or poor, worn out or bright, or sitting in the long

Silence of slowly subsiding, crumbling minds, alive and lonely

In the isolation of being hidden in the routines of the day.