This morning, reading Traces, I returned to the question Carrón posed at the beginning of the pandemic that has affected us all: what saves us from nothingness? Attempting to answer this, I dare say that it is this companionship that helps me not miss anything, those friends who are even more present when you need them.

Seven days ago today, I was admitted to a hospital with practically no defenses and a somewhat bleak outlook. Thus began my Holy Week, so different from others I have experienced in my life, far from the gestures proposed by the Church, far from family traditions, but the most humane, the most real and the most beautiful in 30 years. God has spared me nothing, not silence, nor loneliness, nor fear, nor pain.

When one finds themselves in a limited situation, such as when faced with an invasive illness, and, moreover, because of their current circumstances, such as living alone in a hospital room, it is inevitable to ask existential questions, to ask Christ what He wants to show me through this situation.

With so much time to think about what I have experienced in these months of this year, which have been months of illness, hospitals, problems at work, car accidents, pandemics, social isolation and uncertainty…so many trials, so many that only today, in my hospital bed, do I see each circumstance as a gift, because each circumstance is me affirming my "yes" to Christ, and realizing that without a real companionship of concrete people I would perceive all this as a streak of bad luck.

Above all, I realize that companionship does not only mean physical presence, but sometimes a friend accompanies you more from afar than when they are in front of you. Through all these difficult circumstances, Christ allows me to see that I am never alone, that friends and companionship are witness of Him in my life, from the simplest gestures - a message of encouragement, a call to pray before going to sleep, even offering financial help. During these days in hospital, God has given me the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life and it is difficult not to be moved by all this.

Read also - "A step on the journey"

It is He who is present in every moment, in every nurse, in every doctor, in every message, in every evening. I am grateful because He did not spare me anything. Because, today, saying "yes" comes much more naturally to me. Trust and offer everything, even if I do not understand the reason for many things and am afraid. Today, Easter Sunday, just like the Lord, my defenses have risen and are already reaching their normal levels, and soon, with God's grace, I will be able to go home.

Adri, Paraguay#Coronavirus