By Kelsey Bugarin, Asst. Principal
With the spirit of love that permeates the month of February, it is timely to mention the deepest desire on the human heart is to love and to be loved. How do we truly experience this in our lives? Let us turn to the timeless message from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 13:4-7. In these verses, St. Paul eloquently describes the essence of love, providing us with a profound guide to understanding the transformative power of virtue.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
We may have heard this verse many times throughout our lives, but I ask you to reflect on these virtues with me as we sit for a minute in awe and wonder of his words.
Patience. Kindness. Believe. Hope. Endure.
These are all qualities that we know as Christians are good and true – qualities that we value and find important, but how often do we struggle to exemplify them? What is one in particular that you can grow in? For me, it is patience. I know I want to be patient as my one-year-old throws peas across the room and my three-year-old takes her marker to the wall, but I don’t always practice it. When we leave it up to ourselves to change and forget to seek God’s help, we often fall short. We need God’s grace in order to love the way He has intended for us to love, not in our way, but in His. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8).
As members of the Pius X family and an even larger community as we celebrate Catholic Schools Week, let us continue to pray with St. Paul and strive for more genuine connections in a society where it is becoming countercultural. By embracing the virtues, we find the freedom to love authentically; we are no longer bound by the vices that keep us from loving fully.
While we navigate the month of February, may these virtues guide our actions, fostering a culture where we can love and be loved.
