The reason I don’t wear a mask may surprise you

By Jack Rigert

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Thoroughly worldly people never understand even the world; they rely altogether on a few cynical maxims which are not true.” A popular maxim today is, “if you don’t wear a mask you don’t care about other people.”

Saint Paul wrote, “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).

And so, I walked up on a couple of dear friends who were discussing the pros and cons of wearing masks. Why I could not leave well enough alone and let those two capable men sort it out on their own is beyond me. A fault in my nature I suppose. I added my two cents, “In general I don’t wear masks”. We went back and forth expressing slightly different opinions, had a very civilized conversation, and departed friends.

The next morning I received an email from one of them. “Jack, after thinking about our conversation I wondered, “Are we getting so sure of our beliefs, so dogmatic, that we are losing sight of our humanity, compassion? If a person is so afraid, unreasonably so, of something (Covid), would we not do whatever it takes to reduce or limit that fear? Is a public statement by not wearing a mask more important then alleviating the true fear of another? Are we so righteous that we should not consider other’s feelings? What would a good Christian do?”

Seems reasonable. Why would I not simply put on a mask and comply with the rules? Especially if they may help “alleviate the true fear of another?” Is this not the compassionate, Christian thing to do?

Great question and I am tempted to write a book about it. Not because I want to or because I think anyone would read it, but because any response I give in brief will never suffice to address the complex issues swirling around us. I have already written, podcasted, and spoke at large about this issue for over two years now but perhaps some will find it useful if I summarize the the battle we find ourselves in.

To begin, at its core, this is not a battle between mankind and a virus. The virus is just another episode in the great battle between our Lord and Satan for our individual souls and eternal destiny. God is permitting a lot of evil to snap mankind out of its slumber. Saint Paul wrote, “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light” (Eph 5:14). Still the masses seem oblivious to the evil that surrounds them.

A friend of mine said, “the reason I don’t wear a mask is because it has become obvious that to wear one is to propagate a lie. The lie is that if we all just go along with this one little thing everything will soon be better and we can go back to normal.” That is not going to happen. History has made it clear that once a government gains control over its citizens it will not voluntarily give this power back.

Cardinal Raymond Burke clearly understood this and already in an address on December 14, 2020, warned “of the danger of ‘certain forces’ who are using the cover of Covid-19 to promote “fear,” attack the family and so advance the ‘Great Reset’. Our nation is going through a crisis which threatens its very future as free and democratic. The worldwide spread of Marxist materialism, which has already brought destruction and death to the lives of so many, and which has threatened the foundations of our nation for decades, now seems to seize the governing power over our nation.”

As far as I am concerned, whether someone chooses to wear a mask or not is a personal decision, and prudence plays a role in individual circumstances. I just ask that they pay attention to the larger picture, as the signs are easy to spot. Recently I could not get on a flight without a mask, so prudence dictated that I wear one and I complied, all the while cognizant of the blatant hypocrisy swirling on all around me. In the airport, ala Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, I heard ad nauseum of the importance of wearing a mask and always maintaining six feet of social distancing. Minutes later I was squeezed into a middle seat, shoulder to shoulder with my fellow passengers, the warning about social distancing blaring in the background. We were told that lowering our masks would mean being arrested when we landed. So much for the friendly skies.

There was much we did not know two years ago. Today is much different and my fellow passengers on both sides of me were aware of the scientific data that suggests that both medical and non-medical facemasks are ineffective to block human-to-human transmission of viral and infectious disease such as SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19.

Two years ago I wore a mask, like everyone else. I also endured the lockdowns for what I thought was the common good. Over time the lockdowns would prove ineffective, like the vaccines and masks, to control the spread of the virus, which, by an ironic twist of fate, seems to be more intelligent than the brightest among us. They did end up ruining thousands of lives, crushing many independent small businesses, harming our children, and widening the wealth gap between the haves and have nots. I watched as a friend lost his restaurant, the causality of some bureaucrat, who arbitrarily decided that his family was non-essential. All the while Costco, Walmart, liquor stores and Planned Parenthood were deemed essential businesses and raked in a windfall. Somehow through it all the rich got richer, babies were still murdered in the womb, politicians consolidated power, and Socialist’s came in to ruin our Country. Pay attention, the signs are easy to spot.

I ask myself, how did this happen in the United States of America, the land of the free and the brave? Why did so many people willingly vote for morally corrupt Politicians? Don’t they see the illusion of voting for those who promise a manmade utopia? And what of the people who helped fund and develop Covid-19? In another ironic twist that would have surprised George Orwell, they were elevated to positions of power and put in charge of lockdowns and mandates.

Sadly, many of the Shepherds of the Catholic Church went along with “the principalities, the powers and the world rulers of this present darkness.” They allowed the Church’s to be locked down, depriving the faithful of the Sacraments and their community in the hour of need. Today, some are disregarding clear Church teaching that “man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions”^[1], and are mandating vaccines. Pay attention, the signs are easy to spot. If there is a force in the world that is hell bent on destroying humanity, and there is, the plan would be to take God out of the Country and attack marriage and the family, created in the image of God. Sister Lucia, visionary of Fatima, in a letter to Cardinal Caffara and Pope John Paul II, wrote: “The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about Marriage and the Family.” Cardinal Caffara added that we are now in this final confrontation.

My heart especially goes out to today’s young people who are suffering from anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and so much more. Raised in Godless homes or where faith is given mere lip-service, deprived of their identity as children of God, the young are left to create their own subjective value systems and to follow their feelings. Parents who would protect them do not see the paradox in getting their children to sporting events and dance recitals, then allowing their innocent hearts and minds to be left in a vacuum void of objective meaning. Left vulnerable to manipulation by a culture that screams, “forget about God, the Church or the Bible, there is no objective truth, only the truth you invent for yourself.” It’s an illusion of course. But the reality is that today they live in a world where even “the institution of marriage has been broken, redefined, and finally largely abandoned…growing up in a world almost totally devoid of the certainties that belonged to the generations that came before them.”^[2]

The young have been conditioned to believe that human progress means that a man can become a woman, and a woman can become “non-binary”. That pornography is the new sex manual. That racial hatred is systemic and more natural than love of neighbor. All the while the elites, “the principalities, the powers and the world rulers of this present darkness,” consolidate power and wealth by keeping the young focused on divisions, illusions, a little screen, and in fear of a virus that poses almost no threat to them. Through social media and mainstream news falsehoods are spread and allowed to grow. So many heresies become a warped reality, and like a dark ominous cancer, much larger and more insidious than the man-made virus, keep the young hiding behind a mask. They now “inhabit a world in which everything is up for grabs, but nothing is solid enough to hang on to. It may seem like freedom, but there is crushing responsibility in having to figure everything out from scratch. Your identity, family, religion, even your sex—everything can be changed at your whim (or so we are told). It is a bewildering tyranny of choices producing profoundly unhappy people.”^[3] Pay attention, the signs are easy to spot. For freedom without truth was never freedom to begin with.

“Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the Gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the Evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph 6:13-20).