Sapphic Maelle
Prompt: IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT
Name: Sapphic Maelle
Social Media: Twitter
IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT
I am not a religious person. I was only baptized because it's tradition in my family. But except from that, I never had any connection with religion. I never went to a catholic school, never went to church except for weddings and learned about what lent was when I was sixteen. That being said, I may not be a religious person, but I believe in the after life. I have faith that we are on earth for a certain amount of time and for certain reasons that we don't choose and are not conscious about. I'm not saying freewill doesn't exist because it does. It's just that at the end, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.
Therefore, when I started watching Warrior Nun, I was afraid that the Catholicism part wouldn't resonate with me. But then I heard "In this life orthenext"· At first, it did not make much sense. Butthe more I heard it, the more I understood what itmeant for the characters and the more impact it had on me. Moreover, this quote really reminded me of the "Hay we meet again" from the show The 100. It has the same depth. In both cases, people are put in places where they need to sacrice themselves for the greater good. In The 100, volunteers or felons are being flown away to save space on the ship. Similarly, in Warrior Nun, the Sister Warriors dedicate their whole life to defend the Warrior Nun and the halo. They both are quotes created to accept death. The accent is being put on the "next" part, on the future and what it may hold. However, the characters are reinventing the quotes by using them to express their feelings. And that is when it hits hard. During the whole show, we can see how gradually Ava is figuring out what "in this life or the next" means.
What it means to the Sister Warriors and what it means for her, now being the Warrior Nun. She only started to say it when she was ready to play her part. Ready to focus on the "after" part. And Beatrice has a huge role in this understanding. As we all know, the nuns with no last name made quite an impact on the way Ava perceives the world. If, at first, all Ava wanted to do was enjoy her life, travel and run away with a boy, she, then, understood the implication of her being the Warrior Nun. She listened carefully when Beatrice told her frankly that not everything was about her. This is greater than her life. She understood she was destined to be the Halobearer. It was who she was sup posed to be, where she was supposed to stand, why she was supposed to fight.
In my opinion, whatever we do in this life also has an influence on our next. Reincarnation may be controversial, but truly believe two souls can meet again. We meet so many people throughout our life. Some connections are just from people you have talked to on the bus or some temporary relationships.
But then some feel like you have already known the person for the longest time, and you will give your life for them with no hesitation. A true connection, this feeling of deepness, can only come from the past. This is the real definition of a soulmate. Even if our body doesn't know an individual, our soul might. This can, of course, be a very platonic connection, but it's there.
Knowing how this can feel is a privilege in life.
Ava and Beatrice are soulmates. Their connection is real in every life. So, when Ava says "In the next" after kissing Beatrice, it's a way (a hurtful one) of letting us know that they would reunite in some way, maybe not in this life but maybe in the next one. Cause they're soul mates and soulmates always find a way back to each other.