By: PATRICIA ANGELA C. TAMESIS
Jesus’ disciples gave up everything to follow Him because they believed that He was the Son of God–the Messiah–promised in the Old Testament. But when Jesus died, they were left in fear, despair, and disappointment: the one that they hoped would save them was crucified and had died. The disciples had to gather in secret within closed doors to pray. The looming fear of being arrested, tortured, killed by the Jews was the new normal for the disciples. However, Jesus did not abandon them; 50 days after Jesus died, He sent the disciples the Holy Spirit, which freed them from their fear of going out and enabled them to preach zealously in different languages. Their environment remained dangerous, but the disciples experienced a change within them that gave them the courage to follow Christ even after He had died.
I have also experienced the same emotions as Jesus’ disciples because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have felt afraid of my loved ones getting sick, felt despair as I watched the number of cases and deaths increase, and felt disappointed that I could not spend my last few months of senior year with my classmates and friends at school. For a while, I was upset that this was the new normal. I was questioning God why all of this had to happen and why at a time when I was supposed to experience important events in my life such as my high school graduation and preparing for the start of my college life.
