If you give a ginger a Guinness, she’s going to want Lucky Charms. If you give a ginger Lucky Charms, she’s going to want a four-leaf clover—the list continues with all the Irish nosh and haberdashery that I believe I should be showered with this St. Patrick’s Day.
As an Irish ginger named Scanlon who has participated in the Boston College “Run of the Gingers” twice, I consider myself the ultimate authority on all things St. Patrick’s Day. Whether it’s corned beef and cabbage or the sound of the Cranberries’ “Galway Quay”, I have a deep love for all signs and symbols of Irish heritage on this cherished holiday.
Growing up, I vividly remember sitting in unfertilized patches of grass, attempting to spot the elusive four-leaf clover. One of my biggest grievances with Mother Nature is that I have never actually found one.
Another St Patrick’s Day flies by, and I am still unsettled that I have yet to stumble upon a four-leaf clover. This spring break, however, I attended Ash Wednesday mass in a small, out-of-the-way parish in Sun Valley, Idaho, where I spent the week skiing with friends. There were numerous four-leaf clovers on the church bulletin that resonated with me as I listened to the homily. Each of the four leaves was assigned the letters spelling L-O-V-E.
Each year, I go back and forth on what I intend to fast from during the 40 days of Lent. This year, I resonated with the Ash Wednesday homily due to its striking similarities to a lesson I derived from one of Fr. Michael Himes’ most famous lecture recordings. His teachings are serving as a guide for me this Lenten season.
Himes was a renowned theologian and professor for numerous years at BC. His work was filled with engaging questions, messages, and anecdotes regarding living a fruitful life. Undoubtedly, his most famous teaching was his three questions regarding vocational discernment: What brings me joy? What am I good at? What does the world need me to be?
My favorite Himes concept is the idea of self-gift. In his famous Last Lecture, he asserts that everything that exists results from self-gift. He believes love can be defined as the gift of the self to another. Whether it’s a person, place, or thing, Himes emphasizes the existence of love due to the pouring of oneself into anything.
The homily at Ash Wednesday Mass discussed the fallacy of viewing possessions as a means to achieve happiness. Himes parallels this sentiment, stating, “We live in a world where many people believe they exist due to their possession of objects.” He rejects this notion, saying, “When you give yourself away, your life away, it becomes everlasting.”
I continued to wrestle with these messages as a guide to my Lenten fast. However, my mind continued to be traced back to the image of the four-leaf clovers, which spelled out love.
Similar to my ongoing quest to find a four-leaf clover, I sometimes feel I spend too much time questioning if I truly love the things I do. I question my major, friendships, and my level of commitment to various activities, constantly asking myself if I value them. I don’t think I’m alone in this sentiment. Many students spend copious amounts of energy worrying that they aren’t doing the right things.
They’re anxious that they aren’t appreciated enough by their friends or roommates, or they worry that they aren’t fully immersed in their surroundings. With each passing semester, new environments are presented to students, offering opportunities for personal growth, yet there’s always the lingering worry about whether things will turn out well.
For Lent, I’m working to shift how I engage with the things I love. Much like my lifelong search for a four-leaf clover, the quest for authentic love in one’s scope can sometimes feel endless. In his Last Lecture, Himes emphasized that the point of life is to love, rather than be loved. As I focus on incorporating small, daily acts of giving myself to my surroundings, I’m realizing just how lucky I am to be a ginger walking BC’s campus.
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