God’s Word Restores

(This is the winner of the Essay Writing Contest organized by San Pedro Cathedral Parish in celebration of the National Bible Month 2021.)

Words are the food of the mind; words are the medicine of the heart; words are the compass of the soul; therefore words make a mind, heart and soul, it is where creatures came from. In our light we see words, our tongues read them, our mind understands them, our hearts treasure them, and then they make a soul fearful and faithful to God — for words are powerful, how much more His?

In this time of pandemic where a virus had enveloped the whole world and pushed it into a deep slumber, how do we survive? All are now waiting for a vaccine to arrive, they are in their own homes and some don’t even have a shelter to lie on, others are grabbing opportunities, and some are there, lying on the hospital bed, unconscious and weary, waiting for either their death or cure. Some are working hard and sacrificing their wellness just to earn money for them to survive even just a day. All are worried, seeking help and waiting. And some are living their life to its fullest extent. But you think this pandemic is a blessing in disguise? Look, we learned to face our fears, listen to authorities for our safety, stepping out of our comfort zones, and praying. This pandemic has brought us darkness pushing us closer to each other, closer and closer, pushing us into a huge halo, closer and closer, no one left behind, all are in and we are tightly holding onto something we are clueless what is it. We are united, we aren’t seven billion people rather we are one. At first we are fearful, we feel suffocated and we feel that we are being choked and chained, we want to escape but we can’t. And then slowly by slowly, we have found ourselves gasping for air, we laugh because we thought we are choked but the truth is we are the ones choking ourselves in the need of freedom, that in fact was given to us but we are greedy for it became never enough for us. We are lost and this pandemic brought us back to our path, to the right path. This pandemic found us and then, we found each other, but most especially, we found ourselves.

So in the future, whenever we hear “pandemic”, what would be our reaction: it would be “it is a blessing” or “it’s a disaster”, it depends on how we read, on where our minds have wandered, and on how our hearts choose what to be treasured, for they make a soul and soul is a word who became flesh — we are the soul our words made.

But for me, I believe pandemic is God’s way to help us find our lost path. Pandemic is a blessing in disguise, a medicine for the forgotten. The path to him. (Julia Chamelle G. Turno)