(From Alphonsian Academy blog)
Welcome summer! The arrival of warm weather in the northern hemisphere corresponds to the suspension of school activities and the slowing down of the pace of life. Everything seems to take on a new flavour.
A year ago, a few months after the pandemic, I wrote in my greeting to everyone: ‘Summer, which has always been synonymous with freedom, is now a time of “probation”. Without committing a crime, everyone experiences psychological, relational and health restrictions’ (17.07.2020).
One year on, something has started to change. Many have received at least one dose of vaccine. Many have built up defences to contain the virus, if not the bacteriological one, then at least the psychological one. Others hope for normality that we have realised will never come about.
Because of its very particular rhythm, summer has always been the time of light, dreams, and projects. To enjoy the light, we must do the exercise of memory. In other words, we must have the courage to take all the experiences we have had during this academic year that is drawing to a close and read them frankly. Nothing happens by chance. Everything is the fruit of Providence. For example, leafing through the virtual pages of this blog, each article is an experience, a reflection that the authors wanted to share with everyone to take steps of growth together.
Each step is different from the next. Everything depends on the objective to be achieved. Summertime brings the desire for ambitious projects that take shape during the long sunny afternoons and warm evenings. Summer is the right time for Christian hope. Man’s hope is linked to his existence, to the positivity of life or, if you like, to the tension that drives him to fulfil himself as a project. It is hoped that makes us say yes to the world, that makes us accept the reality of being. From this hope, history is born, planning man’s destiny, the assumption of responsibility for it.
In reality, in the words of Gabriel Marcel, there is only one hope to which we are called: “The only genuine hope is that which is directed towards something that does not depend on us”. I believe that last summer’s experience has taught us believers that rather than saying that hope is directed towards “something that does not depend on us”, it is directed towards “Someone who does not depend on us”.
I wish everyone to live this summer as an encounter with the King of Peace to root themselves more and more in Hope… to resume our activities in October: see you on the blog!!!
Fr. Alfonso V. Amarante, C.Ss.R.
