Service at SLUH

Logan Hayward, Senior Editor

What is the goal of service? There are

two competing views on this issue. One view

holds that physical service is absolutely

necessary for salvation. Proponents of this

theory may cite Christ’s words from Matthew

25: 41-43:

“Depart from me, you accursed, into the

eternal fire prepared for the devil and his

angels. For I was hungry and you gave me

no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no

drink, a stranger and you gave me no

welcome, naked and you gave me no

clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not

care for me.”

However, there have been saints who

were unable to fulfill these requirements

literally, but served God’s people through the

spiritual works of mercy instead. So corporal

service and spiritual service are both valid

ways to achieve salvation. Of course, the ideal

is to achieve both, but we shouldn’t assume

that someone who spent time comforting the

afflicted and praying is less worthy than

someone who devoted his life to working at

food shelters.

The other view holds that service is

absolutely necessary to save lives now.

However, there are many types of service that

do not save a person’s life. In fact, many

people who SLUH students serve on a regular

basis do not need physical help from them at

all. They just need someone to be friendly

with them, to respect them, and to listen to

them. Sometimes, service may not contribute

to saving the world. But it might save souls.

If physical service is not necessary to

achieve our salvation and does not

necessarily save people’s lives, why does

SLUH focus on it?

Service is a good in itself. It is not

always a means to a good end. The action of

helping another person without desiring any

compensation is intrinsically good.

Sometimes, we may have absolutely no

success with service: we may make no

difference in the lives of the people we try to

help, regardless of how hard we try.

Sometimes, we may not find ourselves any

closer to God after an act of service. But we

should still serve others.

Service is like a beautiful work of art.

In staring at a vibrant painting or listening to

a magnificent symphony, we may not find the

mysteries of the universe made clear to us.

But those works of art are, by their very

nature, good. Likewise, we may not think we

are any closer to God after a service trip, but

we naturally are closer to him, unless we are

in a state of mortal sin, because we are doing

something he wanted us to do.

During this school year, SLUH seniors

will spend a good chunk of January doing

service, and freshmen, sophomores, and

juniors will serve through SLUH CSP, service

trips, parish youth groups, or local agencies.

If we have open minds and hearts, there is a

very good chance that we will learn and see

God’s presence during these acts of service.

But even if we find ourselves exactly as we

were before, we can still know that we have

done something naturally good.

Calling All Those Who Disagree Logan Hayward, Senior Editor The SLUH Review has a reputation as a

right-wing paper. Obviously, this is because

all of our political articles thus far have been

of a conservative and/or libertarian bent.

However, we want to include opinions from

people of many political persuasions. SLUH

would benefit from a true marketplace of

political ideas. I firmly believe that, even

though we have a limited audience, the SLUH

Review has done good by contributing ideas

that don’t have a lot of traction at our school.

Progressives, liberals, and Democrats: it is

time for you all to make your ideas known in

this paper, too. People on the left and the

right do not want others to define them by the

beliefs of their leaders in Washington. In

other words, I do not want people to think I

agree with everything the Republicans say,

and I don’t think liberals want people to think

they agree with everything the Democrats

say. Partially in order to distance ourselves

from these political leaders, we adopt new

labels. A right-winger, such as me,

disappointed with decisions of Republicans

and conservatives, might re-christen himself

as a libertarian; and a left-winger who is not

comfortable with the Democrats and liberals

might label himself as a socialist. But our

ideas go beyond these labels.

It is time for us to see where we agree

with each other. The politicos want to divide

the American people into two easily-labeled

camps. But we are more complex than that. I

can name four people currently associated

with the SLUH Review who have been critical

of the war in Iraq. And yet, somehow,

because these people write for this paper,

everyone is supposed to assume that they are

all war-hawk Republicans.

The SLUH Review sparks debate. We

have debated political issues at our meetings.

We have proposed ideas that are off the

beaten path. We welcome well-reasoned

arguments from the left and the right. We will

not accept a liberal’s argument that abortion

should remain legal, but we will also not

accept a conservative’s argument that the

United States should deliberately bomb

innocent civilians. The Catholic Church, on

the political issues on which it has voiced

objective moral judgment, does not fit easily

into the current political paradigm. The SLUH

Review does not, either. In order to establish

our reputation as an opinion paper that

values the truth above political labels, let’s

hear from the left and the center, too. Is Nine Years All it Takes to Forget?

Matt Geisman, Core Staff I remember September 11

th

, 2001 as

clearly as I’m sure any other SLUH student

remembers it. I was in my school’s church,

practicing for a mass with the rest of the third

grade, when suddenly one of our most devout

parishioners came in shouting that something

terrible had happened. As soon as I got home

and had access to a television, I witnessed

some of the most gruesome events I have

seen to this day. I watched towers one and

two of the World Trade Center collapse on

CNN. I watched a woman jump to her death

on NBC. This woman was someone’s wife,

perhaps. Someone’s daughter, definitely.

More than 3,000 mothers and fathers, sons

and daughters, and fiancés and children died

that day. More than 3,000 American citizens

lost their lives.

American life had been changed

forever. We lived in a new world, one of fear,

uncertainty, but most of all, seemingly

endless patriotic devotion. Thousands of

candlelight vigils were held. American flags

were flying in what seemed like every front

yard. There was a flurry of inquiries at

recruiting stations across the country. Every

American citizen vowed to “never forget.”

So what has changed, nine years later?

Have we made true on our promise to “never

forget?” Sadly, the ninth anniversary of

September 11th

has come and gone, almost

as peacefully as any other day of the year.

There were no prayer services held at SLUH

to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks.

Nothing was said about the soldiers who

enlist to defend our country’s freedom. All in

all, it seems America has forgotten the true

meaning of 9/11.

I often look at pictures of 9/11 and

wonder how forgetting so easily is possible.

Perhaps, in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and

instant gratification, remembering something

that happened before any of these social

networking sites were even founded is too

hard. Perhaps the war fatigue that has set in

around the country has dulled the effect of

these images. Whatever the case, America

has since lost the patriotic zeal it gained on

the days following 9/11.

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