I remember working on my online high school courses, staring at the laptop before me, scraping along until I could be done. I’d glance out the window and see a beautiful sight, one that reinvigorated my spirit.
My 80-year-old grandfather was sitting in his bright blue lawn chair, reading a philosophy book, with his sleeves rolled up and his Castle Rock ballcap on. He was propped up next to my grandmother’s garden beds, where she knelt while pulling up stubborn weeds or tilling dark brown soil. They spent hours out there in the sunshine, laboring their minds and hands, until their grandchildren would finish their studies and come out to visit.
Every Sunday morning, my mother’s parents could be found with a cup of coffee and a worn Bible before them. They would read the verses out loud to each other, taking notes and meditating on the Word.
My grandfather sends me emails weekly, with thought-provoking articles or inspiring stories attached.
My grandmother cooks her husband nutritious meals every day, taking care to purchase well-sourced products and using simple ingredients.
They have always resisted the temptation of comfort, in ways I have only recently begun to appreciate.
As a member of Gen Z, it often feels as though the daily struggle against selfishness, the resistance against mind-numbing comforts of modern life, and intentional pursuit of excellence is a task that has been long forgotten by my peers – a fanciful concept reserved for the Instagram fitness influencers or motivational speakers.
My grandparents offer a profoundly stark contrast.
Nobody would blame the elderly couple if they ate less healthy, stopped exercising, omitted reading intellectually-stimulating literature, or put less work into their relations with family. Nobody would blame them if they spent all day in front of their TV, in the same way that I, as a young person, would not be judged for scrolling on my phone all day. We’re just human, after all!
In general, society normalizes the slow death of the soul through obsession with comfort.
The only sure way out of this hazy slumber is to recognize a higher calling. This is the drive my grandfather and grandmother find to propel them forward. This is the invitation they have accepted from their Creator: to stubbornly pursue the fullest of life, the most alive versions of themselves, until the end.
This is why they take care of their bodies, expand their minds, and refine their love of the souls around them.
As the great Catholic intellectual Pope Benedict XVI once precisely said, “You were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness.”
If we were made for greatness, the thinning of the veil between Heaven and earth stands as no reason for halting such a chase.
No matter one’s age, we must not give up the fight against sleepwalking to our graves. There are so many fruits still to be harvested, as my grandparents have shown me.
My grandparents continue to teach their grandchildren, by preventing the death of their soul before their body.
Mary Elise Cosgray is a writer for AMAC Newsline.
