My Dearest Reader,
I would like to begin by simply saying thank you! As I reflect on my past four years at Boston College, I find them brimming with things delightfully unexpected. It has been writing for the Torch each month that has afforded me the opportunity not only to understand my own faith journey but hopefully grant you some companionship on your own. It is with my deepest thanks and gratitude that I say, thank you for walking with me!
As we bring in this new Easter season with choirs of Allellulia and the budding scent of spring in the air, my heart and mind have been busied with a newfound sense of anticipation. It is a feeling of deep and profound longing, a longing for more, but more of what?
In true senior fashion, I have been pondering and wondering what I would like my last words to be in the hallowed columns of this fine paper, yet have struggled to find the words.
I’m not sure about you all but for much of my life, especially the past four years, I have questioned what the aim of a lifetime really is. Why is it that we can’t seem to understand life or even ourselves on our own. What is so important about this otherness? Why do we long for the perfect romance and scour the Earth to find true friendship? What are we longing for? What are we looking for?
Love.
During my time at Boston College I have learned many things ranging from obscure historical facts to foundational principles of science and philosophy, but they always seemed to be woven in an intricate tapestry that links and interlocks them with Love.
For my whole life, I have longed for an answer that would be able to explain everything, that would make sense of every atom of the universe, an answer that would resolve the messiness and incomprehensibility of the world. When I imagined what it looked like, this truth could be summarized in a sentence, neat, concise and orderly. Yet, the answer to my question is not what I expected, it is such a short sentence, that it consists of merely one word, but so rich in meaning that its surface can not be scratched if I wrote pages by the thousands.
Although I understand a mere speck of this beautiful mystery, I will tell you what I have learned so that you might seek it for yourself. We are made for Love by Love to Love and it is only by seeking to live in Love that we will ever find true fulfillment.
The mystery of Love is most profoundly reflected in the doctrine of God as the Trinity and reveals to us the most authentic path to Love is in and through relationships. God is Love meaning that His nature is intrinsically relational – there is no Beloved without a Lover, no Lover without a beloved — one can not exist without the other. It is through our relationships with our families, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, etc. that we are invited to participate in God’s Divine act of both giving and receiving Love.
But Love, true Love, is not what they show you in the movies, it is filled with a profound responsibility to acknowledge our role in a relationship. Love demands that we honor ourselves and others with a respect that acknowledges our own woundedness in such a way that we allow Christ to be our Savior and no one else. Love grants us the freedom to change, to recognize that we are worthy purely because Christ says that we are and nothing will change that.
I am no expert, but merely a novice in this life, but in the words of one wise Jesuit, “Learning to Love is the process of a lifetime.” It is not a matter of getting it right the first time or even the second, but merely showing up and trying again and again. For as Christ says, “Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you.” So dear reader as I journey on my way know of my prayers for you, that in all that you do, that you may ever seek to live each moment with greater Love than the last.
Should you ever find yourself lost with no direction, simply ask yourself, “what is the path of greatest Love?” and I guarantee if you truly seek to Love as Christ loves, God will never steer you wrong. Please pray for me and know of my prayers for you! May God Bless you all the days of your life!
Julia Danehy is a Sophomore in the William F. Connell School of Nursing a hop, skip, and a jump away from her home town of Fort Myers, FL. With the variety of her interests spanning about a million miles long, in her spare time she can be found exploring history, painting, spending time outdoors, whipping up some form of baked good, or reading anything to do with The Theology of the Body/philosophy in general.
- A Love Letter - April 22, 2024
- DON’T FORGET TO SAY THANK YOU - November 29, 2023
- COOKIE CUTTER - October 30, 2023