Finding Hope in Faith: How Religion Supports the Faithful during Times of Loss and Despair

Gabriel Marcel suggests that hope is the expectation that something desirable will happen in the future, even if there is no guarantee. However, hope does not manifest passively – waiting for good things to happen, but takes an active engagement with the world through the willingness to take risks and make choices to pursue goals. The church, during the COVID-19 pandemic, has lost its essentiality, and the religious find it hard to connect with the faithful. When they have been given the chance to resume their pastoral care, they, too, have either been compromised or suffered from loss and despair. This study elaborates on how the religious continue with their pastoral activities despite having been diagnosed with COVID-19, suffered a personal loss, or have witnessed friends losing their lives from the pandemic. From the narratives of priests and seminarians who have personally experienced the harsh impact of the pandemic, this paper aims to understand how faith factors in the propagation of hope. For Marcel, faith is an essential part of human existence as it gives a sense of meaning and purpose that is not dependent on individual circumstances. The research participants acknowledge that their faith, just as Marcel described, allows them to transcend their finite, limited selves and connect with something greater than themselves – the community, the world, and most importantly, God.