Karin Pucher
Karin Pucher
Klagenfurt/Austria

God helps with small and with big problems....

At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the use of individual face masks was encouraged in Austria in 2020. Whether self-sewn or bought, both were ok for me. At the beginning, in the first lockdown, when only a brief grocery shopping trip was allowed, I had no problem with wearing masks. However, after the lockdown, when other shops were allowed to open again my problems started. You could then spend longer periods in the shops. Checkout queues made the situation worse. I was afraid of not being able to breathe under the mask. I would start to sweat and become restless. Sometimes I could not finish my shopping and had to leave the goods that I had selected in the shop. My solution to the problem was to make myself a mask that allowed me more air. Then it became compulsory to wear a so-called FFP2 mask, everywhere, even in church services. This mask gave me much less air than before. I was coming to realise that the pandemic was not going to be resolved quickly and that I had a problem with wearing masks. Furthermore, celebrating church services only via YouTube cannot replace real church services in the long run. Having to leave the church after only 10 minutes and concentrating all my thoughts only on getting enough air motivated me to look for a solution.

I came to understand that having a cloth in front of my mouth and nose triggers a fear in me of passing out. What was the cause of this? As an elementary school child around 1970, I had a tonsilectomy operation. I was anaesthetised with a cloth full of ether pressed on to my mouth. I woke up during the operation and was anaesthetised again.

I went to a priest with my problem because I know from experience that no problem is too small or too big for God and we can ask Him for help with everything. The priest prayed with me for the healing of the memory of this childhood trauma. This also included forgiving the people who caused the trauma. And yes: Jesus did not abandon me this time either. He took away my fear of being breathless when wearing  a mask. I can report with great joy and gratitude that no more problems have arisen to this day. I was even able to attend a church service which lasted two hours wearing a mask  without any problems.

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