These first few weeks at Hope have made me feel like I've begun freshman year all over again. I didn't realize how much I missed this last year until it was given back to me. Sunday Mass on campus, for example, has been such a blessing to return to. There is something so special that I can't quite articulate about having our own little parish community at Hope, something that was largely lost last year. Yes, we still gathered—in small groups, at St. Francis, in class—but it was all very aloof and unfriendly in many ways. In class, we may have been together, but we were asked to face forward and have minimal movement, putting a damper on socialization.
St. Francis was amazingly welcoming to all students as we became regular parishioners, but that small, tight-knit community was hard to come by in such a large space with distancing regulations. These all became the norm, however, and I think many of us began to forget that this isn't how it's supposed to be. I don't think I fully realized it until my first Sunday Mass back on campus, the first I've attended in Winants in eighteen months. We were all back again! The seats were full of students excited to see one another as the new school year began. We gathered together and worshipped and became one through the Body of Christ, all together on our campus, in our space. Welcome back, Hope College! The Lord has great plans in store for us.
Grace Brown is a junior from Grand Rapids, MI. She is studying public accounting. Grace is president of the pro-life group on campus, Students Cherishing Life. Grace and her mom started a podcast this summer called “Thanks Mom.”