Compassion and Altruism is Love: Celebrating February's Virtue of the Month

Orientation to the Profession | Learning Outcome #5 | Reflect on how the school structure impacts student learning

Valentine’s Day is a day where students are filled with excitement and give out cards and treats to one another in celebration of their friendship and platonic love. This year as a member of Parent Council at St. Thomas More, my daughter and I prepared 260 heart-candy lollipops to sell to the students. All the proceeds go to field trips, bus charges, and other extracurricular activities. Valentine's day at Holy Spirit was a small celebration exchanging chocolates. But beyond these small celebrations it's a time when students can think about what love means to them and how they can express love in ways beyond chocolates, candied hearts and flowers. It’s also an opportunity for students to think about the way their actions influence others and their community. It's these actions that contribute to the greater good through selflessness, generosity, and kindness.

The communal board at Holy Spirit for this month was designed by the kindergarten group.

Valentine-O-Grams sold out at St. Thomas More

Valentine’s Day falls under February which virtue of the month is love. Love, one of many virtues throughout the year, is beyond a rule or duty as the others express. To have love is to feel compassion and from compassion should lead to altruism. True compassion is not a charity in that it would pity the inferior. Students and Catholics must recognize that one’s misfortune does not equate to their level of significance. “It is to recognize the deficiencies of the self and its egoism and reach out to value a brother or sister as an equal (Morrison, 2020).”

An example of virtuous love is the story of the good Samaritan who helped a Jewish traveler who was beaten and robbed. The Samaritan looked beyond the traveler’s race as many passed him by with and without pity, “But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion,” (Luke 10:33). This story demonstrates how virtuous love is: it’s not passive but active; not condescending but humble; not racist but unbigoted. The love in which Jesus teaches is to embody love to seek the good in another (Morrison, 2020).

And one act of love can move towards a social effect for the greater good in one’s community. But we mustn’t forget to love oneself, to self-care and seek support. Caring for oneself is to ensure one has enough love to share.

My digital prayer table this month showcases a personal prayer that models how I can carry my love outside of myself for the greater good. The open Bible is to indicate the story of the Good Samaritan, which I hope to use in one of my lesson plans for religion.

Digital Prayer Table

The image on the left is a portrait of St. Valentine, the saint of ‘courtly love’, and the famous saint who we celebrate every 14th of February. Nobody truly knows the story of St. Valentine, but according to legend, he restored a young woman’s vision. And in doing so, the woman’s father who was a judge converted to Christianity and released all his Christian inmates. Valentine was arrested for trying to convert people to Christianity and, as being a Roman Priest, imprisoned for marrying Christian couples. He was later sentenced to death by Emperor Claudius Gothicus of Rome. He was beaten and beheaded. His famous act in which is famously known for: a letter he apparently wrote to the blind woman he healed. The inscription on the letter ended with “your Valentine (Catholic Online, 2022).”

“The romantic nature of Valentine's Day may have derived during the Middle Ages, when it was believed that birds paired couples in mid-February. Although the exact origin of the holiday is not widely agreed upon, it is widely recognized as a day for love, devotion and romance (Catholic Online, 2022).” But again, as Christians, we must remember that though it’s marked as a commercial holiday about affection, romance, and courtly love, we can express love in ways to support others with equity and compassion. And without prejudice, racism or egoism.

References:

Morrison. (2020, September 4). Race and Love: The Virtuous Mean as Vehicle for

the Integrated Church. Centre for Pastor Theologians. https://www.pastortheologians.com/articles/2020/9/2/race-and-love-the-virtuous-mean-as-vehicle-for-the-integrated-church?gclid=CjwKCAiA3KefBhByEiwAi2LDHOXUBljiUQqwv_d9WpCR-1TKf7W9ewfR3sS8JHWHp83HaNjy6vSFyRoCfKcQAvD_BwE#St. Valentine. (2022).

Catholic Online. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159