As students moved back onto campus this August, the excitement was palpable. A friend of mine observed that seeing students out and about on the Heights, without masks, was the image she needed to finally get a sense that the pandemic is behind us. Then the Delta variant caused another spike in cases. As the majority of students arrived on campus, the City of Boston—quickly followed by the City of Newton—announced new mask mandates. The presence of masks in dining halls and the bookstore as well as Sunday emails requiring students to undergo COVID-19 testing at some point during the next week are a daily reminder that while life at BC has largely returned to normal, the pandemic is still not behind us.
The fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a mental toll on everyone is almost too obvious to state. For myself, I was not so much worried that I would contract the virus as much as that I would unwittingly infect those around me. The recent numbers from asymptomatic testing at BC shows that the possibility—while mitigated—is still present. In what seems, then, to have been more a respite from than an end to the pandemic, the obvious question is, where do we go from here?
First, let us remember the positives of the current situation. Over the last year, out of the largely unvaccinated population of BC, the vast majority of infected students and faculty recovered well. There is good reason to think that this year, the vaccinated BC community will continue to weather the chaos brought on by COVID-19. Just as importantly, students and staff of faith enjoy far greater access to the life of the Church than they did during the dark days of spring and summer 2020. Both physically and spiritually, we are better equipped to get through the last stretch of the chaos that COVID-19 has caused.
Second, let us remember God’s Providence. We are all well acquainted with the fear that living through this time has produced. John tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 Jn. 4:18). This is a verse that I struggled with for some time. I’d like to think—however imperfectly—that I love God and, on the other hand, I would be lying if I said I did not feel all sorts of fears. Additionally, I did not understand how fear had to always be related to punishment. For example, I have a mild fear of heights, it has nothing to do with punishment.
Pope St. Leo the Great connects this verse to the coming persecutions, pointing out that the martyrs would not have been able to handle the horrors those persecutions entailed if God’s love did not drive fear out of their hearts. But why would those fears be related to punishment? It was, after all, for God that they were being punished, not by Him (cf. Rom. 8:36). After some reflection, I believe that what John is saying here is very similar to what Paul tells the Roman church, when he says that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Rom. 8:28).
The love of God drives out the fear that this or that thing is happening to us as a punishment from God. Both Paul and John were well aware that the life of the Christian—then and now—was beset with many evils, but they both stressed the point that these were not a punishment from God; if not a punishment, then, for good, in some manner. Any tribulation that we come across will ultimately redound to our benefit and spiritual growth (cf. 1 Cor. 10:13). This is the way the love of God drives out all fear, because if we are convinced that whatever we are suffering, however mysteriously, is ultimately meant to work out to our benefit. In this way, we can trust that God’s goodness and faithfulness in this situation, too, is for our benefit.
Lastly, let us take comfort in the history of the Church. We are not the first Christians to be living through tough times. In fact, we are among those few Christians who have had comparatively little to suffer, at least in the West. Let us always remember that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1) who are interceding on our behalf. If they were able to overcome, so will we.
Gjergji Evangjeli served as the Editor-In-Chief of The Torch. He had previously served as the Executive Editor and the World News section editor. He is currently pursuing a ThM at the BC School of Theology and Ministry. Gjergji is interested in the patristic period, specifically in the apologists of the second century. He is an ardent defender of the Oxford comma.
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