By Jonathan Hayden, senior theology major
During this season’s fervor with all its snowy streets, wisping winds and tedious traveling, it is important to pause and reflect on what it means to be in the presence of intimate family and friends celebrating this holiday season.
Have you asked yourself: Why am I here? What can I bring to my family this holiday?
Like all holiday celebrators, you may consider bringing a gift to your loved ones to express your appreciation for them. It is a custom of this giving season.
But why do you give at all? Have you considered what it means to give?
Giving is more than a charitable action. It has a spiritual purpose. The foundation for all giving is love, for a gift without an inkling of love is no gift at all. To give means to love. You allow a part of your self to go with the gift of giving, intending a better existence for the receiver than what previously was. And what joy surfaces from your own heart through giving out of love!
Joy, therefore, arising out of the gift of love, is a private jubilation shared. Joy is that blissful ecstasy when all things are dancing in harmony; it is that ineffable wholeness from being present in the world that strikes you like a light of indelible grace.
St. Thomas Aquinas says that to love is to will the good of another, and what greater love is there than for one to give oneself to others, even in the most inconvenient and challenging times?
The Christian story exemplifies this lesson: An innocent man took on all the evils and sufferings of the world for the sake of the goodness of humanity. For the love of humankind, he sacrificed himself for the sake of all people, his friends and his enemies.
Are you willing to personify this story?
Your heart might exclaim: “But this is extremely difficult!” And indeed, it is, for existence has no shortage of difficulty and suffering within it.
In situations where you must suffer, where you must risk the sacrifice of your ego, desires, status, impulses and relationships for the goodness of others, do you have the courage to embody the greatest love for humanity?
So, the question you might ask yourself this holiday season is: How can you give yourself to others for their goodness’ sake? How can you love them as they are supposed to be loved? Not as objects of superficial compassion or leisurely bonhomie but as divine human beings in need of spiritual healing. Will you stand in the frozen winter nights with them, listening to their painful tears and unjustified misfortunes?
How about those who have crossed you? Those who approach you with a heavy head and bleeding heart, falling to their knees seeking some contrition, some consolation, will you forgive them for their transgressions?
And when all is cold, and your courage is shaken, as you trudge through a dark day with swollen eyes and a spinning head, indignant from your life’s suffering, perhaps you stumble across paths with someone who remembers the small token of love you gave to them. Perhaps they return that love to you in the same way.
For this holiday season, how will you give yourself to the goodness of humanity?
Jonathan Hayden, a senior, is the final Theology major at SMWC. Originally from Linton, Indiana, Jonathan came to The Woods as a student-athlete seeking to deepen his spiritual life. He is intensely involved on campus, from working in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) as the Academic Support Student Coordinator, being a voice for campus students as a Resident Assistant and competing as an athlete on the cross country and track teams. In his free time, Jonathan can be found either in the LRC reading voraciously or running miles around campus with his teammates. After completing his undergraduate degree, Jonathan plans to enroll in graduate school to earn a higher degree in Philosophy. He hopes to obtain a professorship and teach at a university in the future.
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