“Bakit, Diyos?!” or “Why, God?” During most of this semester I have prayed in a language I hardly know, my home language of Tagalog, which makes me feel like a baby learning how to speak. It brings the question: how well do I really know how to talk and understand? Like a child, I falter as I try to learn how to speak; I stumble as I try to learn how to trust. We do not understand how God’s Mercy operates. As He speaks to us, we are like newborns who hardly understand His language called Love. It can seem very absurd at times. An example is COVID-19: Society goes into a lockdown, an economic plummet, and political chaos.
Our civilizations collapse. Our lives crumble. For the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021 especially, plans fall apart. So, where is the meaning in what we do?
It is certainly a question for St. Louis de Montfort to ask who dedicatedly spent 15 months building a monument that did not last more than a day. Nevertheless, he praised God for the destruction of his plans. When encountered with a sense of loss we are faced with the question of “what propels us?” To all these questions there is but one answer: sanctity. That is our destination. All else in this life are signposts. The moment we are stuck in the past is when we forget that “everlasting life begins now”.
Recall, Christ’s words: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) This pandemic has been a wake-up call for all of humanity in which together, we have unwittingly experienced our own “Last Supper”, as my friend describes. Many of us impatiently await our world-wide “Resurrection”, our return to “normalcy”. However, just like Christ suffered through His Passion and death first, we must too. Life before and after COVID-19 will not be the same as we are called to “put on the new man”. Our hearts are the vessels in which God’s outpouring of love is overflowing, and we are being made to expand from the size of a cup to that of a pitcher. Yet, that stretching hurts; we are taught to live not solely for ourselves but in communion by socially distancing for our good and that of our neighbors at our personal cost. The graduating class of 2020 and 2021 share in the pain of understanding this, as the former say they feel “they have been on an endless spring break, awaiting to return to college”.
As a senior during the pandemic, there has been a sense of heavy opportunity cost in waiting until I’m made to reconcile with the fact that the chance has passed us or has “died” and cannot return in this college journey. Though, this is when life’s purpose of sanctity is made clearer, and “all our good suffering [need not] go to waste” says Venerable Fulton Sheen. It can be said that God blessed us seniors with more memories than we could imagine. The Class of 2020 and 2021 are not only personally but historically memorable. This year marks the first commencement since the virus breakout. Togetherness is what we were given in a way which may not have otherwise been the case. The scarcity in bonding increased the appreciation of every small moment, making it as valuable as gold. God more than answered my prayers, but He did so imperceptibly.
So, it will be with the next steps of the journey as long as we keep our eyes on the prize of sanctity, our Resurrection. Venturing into society as a senior feels frightening, especially in this age of uncertainty. Though like a child with wholehearted trust, I ask Mary to pray for us seniors now and at the hour of our departure. Amen.
Featured image is courtesy of Geoff Young via Flickr
Lourdes Macaspac, graduate of the class of 2021, wrote for The Torch as a C101 writer during her first three years and as a Faith Feature Columnist during her senior year. At BC, she majored in a bunch of things, enjoyed giving her time to service, and cared greatly for her friends. Through the fleeting sweet and sometimes chaotic moments, she rediscovered the meaning of her life: sanctity.
- What Is True Love? - February 28, 2022
- Thanksgiving Reflections and the Single Life - December 25, 2021
- My Good Friend, St. Therese - November 2, 2021