What is a great year? (Yearbook 2009-10)

As I wonder what to write in order to capture the flavor of the year that has passed, I find myself asking, “What makes a year great?”Every grad wants to remember his last year with fondness, recalling all of the wonderful things that happened and all of the events that contributed to a great year.It is true that certain things like championship teams, academic successes,remarkable plays and concerts and memorable carnivals and dances add to what we remember as a fantastic year, but the longer I am involved in school life, the more I realize that these things are only a very small part of a successful school year.

All of these things are part of Loyola’s tradition and this year has certainly seen its share of great events that I truly hope are remembered with affection, but whether or not this was a great year is, I think, far less dependent on the great events as it is on the people with whom they were shared.More than that, I think that even the very difficult events that take place throughout the year make a significant contribution when the weight of them is born with others who help and support us.It is the realization that we are loved and cared for that etches the “great year” into our hearts and minds.Those who celebrated success with us and consoled us through defeat and hardship form the foundation of the real memories.

 

So who are these people?Well, that is in effect what each of us has to reflect on for ourselves.It may be that one particular teacher or coach who was there when needed; it may be a parent who understood when life seemed difficult or who was there to encourage us in our successes; it may be in the friends that were part of all the events of this year and who understood and challenged us to live up to our potential. It is these relationships, these loves, that will mark us for life and, more than likely, it was a little bit of all of these that made this year what it was. In the end, it is in our ability to recognize the blessings in our lives that determines whether or not this was a great year. If we have learned to open our eyes, we will find that there is always someone standing with us through all the good and all the bad. Like Psalm 23 says:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

The Lord’s promise to be with us enables all circumstances to become part of a great year. This divine love is precisely what can be mirrored in the friendships that we form along our path and it is these that can last a lifetime.

So my prayer for all of us at the end of this year is that we are able to recognize that divine presence so that, no matter what the circumstances, we will find that “goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Thanks for a great year.