With the outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico, millions of Mexicans were forced to attend mass via their television set as fears of further contamination and contagion envelopes the country. The usually jampacked Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe was emptied on Sunday and was only filled by dozens of mask wearing priests, nuns and reporters. The spotlights were attached on cranes as Mexico City Archbishop, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, gave a sermon that echoed in the empty chamber of the gargantuan Basilica. This is the first time that the Basilica has experienced such absence from the faithful.

During his homily, Cardinal Rivera urged the faithful to obey the government sanction on public assembly in lieu of the H1N1 flu virus, which as of this writing, has already killed 26 people and infected 701 others. The new flu strain, commonly known as swine flu even though experts say it cannot be caught from pigs, has now spread to over 1,000 people in 20 countries.

Some of the changes implemented in Catholic Mexico in the recent days were:

• Priests use masks to send message to people that prevention is indeed important and that hope and encouragement is imparted by the Catholic Heirarchy of Mexico.
• People were masks in communion and only remove them when in the instant of receiving the communion
• The faithful doesnt shake hands during the mass but just bow their heads at each other.
• Some churches removed the pews to avoid the faithful from lingering too long at churches

But not all Mexican Catholics were happy in the changes that occurred this past week. Teresa Rodriguez, 50 said on Faithworld

“I don’t agree with this, because we are in God’s hands and we should be celebrating Mass, If God saved the lepers, isn’t he going to save us?”

Hmmm. She has a point. But in thei particular issue, two priorities are gonna clash: The Health Priority or the Spiritual Life of the people. I have no answer. All I know is that both faith and health should stand side by side with each other.