“My Catholic faith has helped me a lot during this pandemic. My Dad is a physician at a nearby hospital, and for the last nine months, he has been taking care of patients who have COVID. I remember asking my Dad if he could cure COVID, and he told me that, ‘No, only the Divine Physician can cure someone of COVID.’ He told me that although he does everything in his power to help his patients overcome this terrible virus, it is ultimately up to our Lord to cure the sick.

“Each night since the pandemic began, my family and I pray the holy rosary for my Dad’s patients who have COVID, so that they will be made well again and are able to return home to their families. Several weeks ago, my family was shocked, saddened and scared to learn that the tables had turned and my Dad, who for nine months was the caregiver to those with COVID had himself become the patient. When my family received the news that my Dad was in the hospital with COVID, we were very worried at first. Then we turned to what had always been a source of comfort to us: our Catholic faith. We continued to pray the holy rosary every night, not only for all of Dad’s COVID patients, but for my Dad as well! Our Catholic faith carried us through, and now my Dad is healthy and back to work doing what he does best: taking care of those who are sick during the pandemic.” – Joseph Annulis, eighth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons, Maryland

Drawing by Joseph Annulis, eighth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“One thing I have learned through all of this COVID-19 stuff is that, even though I feel lost, God is still guiding me. He’s here with me, with all of us, every step of the way. And even though I may not know what’s going on or what to do, God knows. And He has a plan, not just for me, but for all of us, and He will be there every step of the way.” – Autumn Oestringer, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown, Maryland

“I have continued learning at St. Mary’s during the pandemic by my teachers being there for me. My faith has helped me feel safe during this time.” – Zoey Hughes, second grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

Drawing by Sammy Somers, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons, Maryland

“The pandemic has been a struggle for all of us. Some may have lost a job, while others may not have any food on their table. All of these things make it easy for one to get lost in their life. This is why I have turned to God during these uncertain times. God has put me back on track… I have learned that despite everything going on in the world, God has a plan. I have also learned that we should turn to God in the harder times.” – Donovan De La Cruz, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

Drawing by Violet Klasko, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“Our world gets very divided when tough things happen, and I believe that if we all pray and come together and we leave it up to God, everything would be better. Our world is split right now, and we need God to show us the way, we need Him to guide us to the right way of life.” – Makayla Cross, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“My faith has been growing stronger during the pandemic. Before, I thought I didn’t have time for prayer or reading the Bible. Now, however, since I’m at home a lot, I have plenty of free time on my hands. I finally started a daily devotional, and I’m also praying a lot more. I’ve learned so much about God and who He wants me to be. My faith helps keep me motivated to excel. It keeps me strong when I feel weak.” – Lydia Eppright, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“Faith is what keeps our hopes up during tough times. When you are stressed or aggravated, you may just need to pray. My faith is going to help me learn by having trust in God. God will take care (of me).” – Anthony Stefko, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown 

Drawing by Molly Howard, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington, D.C.

“My faith has kept me striving to do better every day through the pandemic. It gave me a reason to continue learning and developing myself. My faith serves as a base for everything in my life. Faith is the most important thing and most needed thing we have. Our faith keeps us moving every day of our lives. No matter how hard things get, faith will always be the one thing you can fall back on. Life gets hard, but our faith needs to be stronger. So when times like these arise, we can push through and keep becoming the best version of ourselves.” – Delaney Garner, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“If it wasn’t for my faith, I would have gone crazy. My faith let me believe we were going to get through this together, and we did.” – Michael Larkin, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“During this rough time, I have been trying to pray as often as I can and go to church when I can. When I get stressed out about online school, I try to calm down and pray to God to help me get my work done. By praying, I remember that God always helps me to do hard things. When I feel alone and miss my friends, He picks me up and comforts me.” – Molly Howard, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

Drawing by Andrea Dudley, second grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown, Maryland

“My faith helped me during this time by hoping and believing that things will get better.” – Daniel Wimsatt, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“My family taught me to keep faith in good times and bad times.” – Jace Willis, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“The pandemic is very hard on many people. I believe that if we put our faith in God, He will guide us through. There are many people who have it harder than me. I’m thankful that I have a home, and I can go to school. I hope that it will be over soon.” – Molly Hurley, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

Drawing by Jack Meenan, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington, D.C.

“During the pandemic I continued learning math… At times it was difficult to learn virtually, but God helped me through that. I prayed for help on concepts I didn’t understand, and He definitely helped, because after a little while, I would start to understand the concept of things.” – Lyla Bailey, seventh grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“I stay close to my faith every day. Every time I go to church I pray for all people that have the virus and hope they get better.” – Sam Hough, seventh grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“My faith helped me while I was doing homework at home. I was distracted by my cat, and so I started praying, and the next day I got a perfect test. Nothing wrong, everything was perfect. I didn’t ask for a perfect test, I just asked for the world to have a good day… I feel by me talking to God that day helped me to bond more with Him.” – Kendall Fulton, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

Drawing by Thatcher Redpath, a fifth grader at Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“My faith has kept me pursuing the goal of learning during these tough times. My faith has taught me how to keep going and pick myself up when things get rough. Praying to God every day helped me learn to stay calm and collected when I started getting upset about not seeing my friends. But praying to God helped me learn how He is always next to me, and that I have a friend in God.” – Kaleb Wingenter, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

Drawing by Kaleb Wingenter, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“During this pandemic, a lot has changed but one thing that never will is my strong family-like bond with everyone in the school. Last year we all went virtual, expecting two or three weeks, not knowing what laid just ahead of us. During this long time, school lost its spark to me, because every day I got up, I could tell it was going to be a day with my friends in a place I loved so much, then it was all taken away from me. I tried to get past computers and sitting at my desk at home, but there was nothing normal. I started thinking what will happen if this does end, will I know normal anymore, so I put my faith in God and started to pray more often. Now I’m in school, but it’s still all different with masks and social distancing…” – Violet Klasko, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“I learned in 202o that not everything goes your way. When I was introduced to this new pandemic, I didn’t know what to do or what to expect. We had all these online learning classes, and it’s still difficult, but I’ve learned that not everything is impossible. This pandemic will go down in history, known as one of the toughest years we have ever faced, but a lot of people have learned something new, that this pandemic has brought family together as much as possible. We can and we will defeat this pandemic.” – Aidan Ball, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

Drawing by Kyle VanRyswick, third grade, St. Michael's School, Ridge

“My faith comforted me through this pandemic. I never felt alone, even when we could not see our friends and family, because I had God to talk to in my prayers. I was confident that I would make it through these tough times and that we would get through 2020 okay because God was looking out for us.” – Annalisa Arata, third grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“My faith helps me through this pandemic, because I feel safe when I’m at home praying to God. At the beginning of the lockdown, I prayed the rosary every day with my mom, and it helped me stay calm and relaxed.” – Camryn Stark, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“First, may I just say that this year was super hard… My grandma died of COVID on Nov. 10, 2020, me not seeing my best friends in person since March, also with politics getting worse with people getting super mad. But I want to thank God, my family and my friends for getting me through this. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Also learning has been hard. I have to look at a screen for a few hours a day. Also I can’t even be (with)in six feet of my friends. Also again, I want to thank the Lord for helping me through this hard time.” – Daniel DiBonaventuro, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

Drawing by Keating Barry, a fifth grader at Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“I got to spend a lot of time with my family. I was nicer to my brothers. We played together…” – Aiden Williams, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown, Maryland

“When we started quarantine, we thought that it would only be a few weeks, then it was months. Praying to God has given me reassurance and hope that this will end. If we continue to pray, then hopefully this will end very soon.” – Isabelle Strutt, sixth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“My faith has helped me through this time, because I know that the Lord is always with me.” – Hayden Watts, sixth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

Drawing by Lily Ritz, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“My faith is keeping me going every day. God helps me every day with lots of stuff. With prayer, I know God will help me through this pandemic. Trusting in God will be the best thing you will ever do.” – Destiny Dudley, sixth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“During this pandemic, I have read the Bible more often. This has helped me learn more about God. This has also helped me become closer to God. We are all going through a really unusual time in our lives. There have been protests, and many people are getting sick. This is why we have faith in God, and pray for a better tomorrow.” – Sienna Padgett, sixth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“We are able to learn in person because we follow rules like wearing masks at school and using social distancing. We pray to God to help keep friends and family safe and healthy.” – Emma Payne, second grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

Drawing by London Gill, third grade, St. Michael’s School, Ridge, Maryland

“My faith helps me to not give up and focus on God during these times. God is the only way that we are going to get through this pandemic. And without God, (the people in) our country turn on each other and start fighting. That is why we need God during the pandemic and during these times of darkness in our country.” – Gavin Sherman, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“My faith has helped me to continue learning through this pandemic by inspiring me, and giving me examples to follow. By reading about the stories of other hardships saints have faced, I am reminded that I need to keep up with my schoolwork and try my best… I know that God hears my prayers and that with His help I can continue my work.” – Dariana Damo, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

“Each week when I go to church, Father tells us stories about people who have been affected by the pandemic. We pray for those who have been affected and learn more about the pandemic. I feel like I am also learning more about God and why He does what He does. I am able to trust that if I believe in God, He will keep me safe.” – Madilynne Krauss, eighth grade, St. Mary’s School, Bryantown

Drawing by Aidan Ball, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons, Maryland

“My faith has helped me during the pandemic with all my anger and frustration. I get frustrated about not getting to do the things that I could do before COVID. In these moments, I ask Jesus to help me keep calm. I realize that I should thank Jesus that I am not infected with COVID and that I should pray for the people who are. Then, I also thank Jesus for all the essential workers who are working very hard at this time, and I make sure that throughout the rest of the day, I wear a smile on my face.” – Tilly Cissna, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington, D.C.

“Faith has helped me a lot through the pandemic. One way faith has helped me is by praying and going to church. Another way faith has helped me is by donating to food drives. One last way faith has helped me is by guiding me through the rough times of the pandemic.” – Jack Meenan, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“My faith has helped me during this time by knowing God is with us during the pandemic. I know He is with me because I pray to Him every night, and He has kept my family and loved ones safe. Another way is that I’ve prayed for a vaccine, and now we have one. Also being able to attend virtual Mass is another way I show my faith during this time.” – Lily Ritz, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

Drawing by Camryn Stark, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“My faith helped me keep focus and work hard. Hybrid learning has been difficult. But God has helped me through the hard times. He has shown me not to give up. Whenever I was feeling stressed out, God was there.” – Penelope Koutrouvelis, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“My faith helped me get through tough times with this pandemic. It also helped me not to be sad every night because I could not see my family. It helped me get over the loss of my family member and remind me that he is in a good place. It helped me stay in touch with my friends that also have had a loss, and I helped them get over it. My faith really has helped me during this time.” – Keating Barry, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“During this pandemic, it has been hard for everybody to learn from distance (learning). I have learned that I need to be understanding to everybody. Whenever I need a hand, I pray to God. The pandemic is confusing in all ways, but Blessed Sacrament School has done some awesome teaching. I hope that after the pandemic, we will be really happy to go back to regular school.” – Keaveny Mullins, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

Drawing by Kendall Fulton, fifth grade, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons

“Many things are happening through this time, but Blessed Sacrament is still helping the kids learn. Even though things are hard, we are having fun and still learning.” – Bianca Ahlborn, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

“My faith has helped me get through this time by helping me stay close to God. COVID-19 has given me more time to pray. My faith has made me strong during COVID-19. I pray that all of the sick people get better. I am glad I am not sick.” – Graham Power, fifth grade, Blessed Sacrament School, Washington

Next Junior Saints

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. For the next Junior Saints, draw a picture and write about how you will draw closer to Jesus during this Lent. Please email your submissions by Feb. 15 to mark@cathstan.org and be sure to print your name, grade and school or parish clearly.

More students writings and drawings for each month’s Junior Saints can be seen on the Catholic Standard’s website at cathstan.org.