A new column on our portal called: It will be good, do not be afraid. It comes from the pen of our hagioassistant Ana Perišić. From week to week she will share with us concrete and practical experience and thinking.
Ana Perišić, born in Split. For many years she worked as a teacher of vocational subjects at the Secondary Agricultural School in Zagreb, for which she previously studied at the Faculty of Agriculture and the Pedagogical Academy, also in Zagreb. After graduating from ITKL in 2004 at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, she took over the position of director of the Children’s Home and head of the Center for Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy of the CZN. She also led the project Psychosocial and spiritual assistance to people in need in CZN. She currently works as a hagioassistant and mentor at the Center for Hagiotherapy – Split, and is one of the members of the editorial board of Hagio.hr.
It will be good, do not be afraid
These days, even though we are in isolation, a lot is happening. As soon as we stop and think, we notice that life has not stopped. Moreover, much of the anxiety and negativity can be read from the media and other contacts with the world. It is clear to everyone that the economy, tourism and regular education are in a great crisis. The city has been shaking for days, with uncertainty, it is hard to look at our ruined churches, cultural goods, people’s homes to the point of pain… Believers are denied the celebration of the sacraments, even if obedience is accepted, it is difficult – there is no communion with Jesus, like air.
Many malefactors, sporadically but continuously, strike at our shrines. It is enough to address only one of them who, with his blasphemous insult to the Risen One, humiliates every believer, but also every decent citizen if he is not even considered a believer. And there is also the fear of a vicious disease, a possible increase in domestic violence, the fear of existence…
But the fact that life has not stopped is manifested in much, much good, around us and in us. There is only one question: do we perceive these realities?
First, the children finally have their parents with them. Not even great knowledge or sporting successes can make them happy, much less expensive clothes and gifts, as the realization that they are protected, that they are given love and attention from mom and dad. We seniors also met each other, we should have looked each other in the eyes more often. It was time to get through the „small space“ crisis and meet the person „under the skin“.
So much solidarity, self-denying good deeds of „little people“, then, creativity and ingenuity of artists, humility of „big faces“, we noticed at every step. Don’t we notice that the arrogance of politicians has subsided ?!
It is as if Providence has led a team of experts to agree to boldly guide us through this crisis. And so many jokes, humor, made us laugh, from the heart. Some people were selflessly on the „work front“, unquestioningly, every day.
Doctors say there are fewer sick people overall, that people are healthier today than before the pandemic. Nature has miraculously recovered, recovered from so much evil that man has inflicted on her. We have mastered many technical skills, well done to us. And, we have the courage to talk about that good that is happening to us, it has become normal for us.
In the end, we seek God in the secret of the heart, because that is where He should be sought first.
I just can’t believe we’re going to go back to the old. It will be difficult financially, but we have prospered with values. Dear readers, it is important to notice what good we have discovered in our lives during this extraordinary situation.
Let’s stop, let’s write it down, we will witness to someone tomorrow that it’s worth believing in the good in people.
And we will help ourselves, when crises come again, that there is no point in giving in to misery, helplessness, fear. Everything can turn out well, even the greatest human suffering, it is paradoxical, but true.
Let’s face it: being aware and opting for the good is crucial in guiding our personal lives.
Only the knowledge of the essential can give a new meaning to life, and the decision that in spite of everything we will persevere in forgiveness, work, realization of talents… Let’s not forget, we are what we decide for.
We are great, as great as our longings to do good. It is a space into which the Spirit of God enters, making everything new.
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Born in Split. For many years she worked as a teacher of vocational subjects at the Secondary Agricultural School in Zagreb, for which she previously studied at the Faculty of Agriculture and the Pedagogical Academy, also in Zagreb. After graduating from ITKL in 2004 at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, she took over the position of director of the Children’s Home and head of the Center for Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy of the CZN. She also led the project Psychosocial and spiritual assistance to people in need in CZN. She currently works as a hagioassistant and mentor at the Center for Hagiotherapy – Split, and is one of the members of the editorial board of Hagio.hr.
