Marco Iazzolino

Corona and Courage (coraggio) have in common the preposition cor. To have courage means to act with the heart in a negative situation (like the crown virus). Courage, at its root, is never static, still, depressed, sad, but acts with the heart towards salvation. Courage moves the person because there is confidence (faith) that what happens, however terrible and pandemic, can be overcome. Faith, trust, overcome fatigue, bewilderment, and stasis because it sees what is beyond the virus beyond the event that grieves us. Corona instead has a different root. The Cor di corona derives from the Latin Cor or Cur, which indicates the ‘closing of the circle (the crown of the winner).

The crown can represent the opportunity to ‘see’ with faith what is beyond, acting with heart (courage). In this time of Lent, quarantine, fear, and viruses, we are perhaps called to be witnesses of a faith that goes beyond the mask or protective gloves but is capable of ‘bending’ (curing) reality to a victory of life. Courage!