THE VALUE OF MY JESUIT EDUCATION
By Kyle Sutton
Is the value of a a college education simply the things you learn? Is it only your degree? What sets a Jesuit education apartfromaregularone?
I came to Boston College committed to my idea of the good. I established a "right" and "wrong" for myself, entrenched myself into a worldview, and dismissed the possibility of being incorrect I had heard that it was impossible to have an all-good and all-powerful God and an evil world, and that was good enough for me God was out of the question Organized religion was a bad thing, or so I told myself. Despite priding myself on being open-minded, with minimal reflection, I had dismissed what billions of peopleconsidertheiruniversaltruth.
Yet, I was confirmed in the Catholic Church at the end of lastyear,sowhatchanged?
A constant feature of my Boston College experience has been interacting with the Center for Student Formation (CSF). At CSF, there is a wonderful pamphlet outlining the three "be's" of a Jesuit education: be attentive, be reflective, and be loving. Being attentive was introduced to me in simple,shortreflectionexercisesaboutthingsinmylifethat were either energizing or draining me I looked into my life and tried to find what excited me and what did not These reflections, along with the Core Curriculum, forced me to learn about and see new perspectives and be attentive to how I felt about them. These two aspects of my Jesuit education forced me not only to be exposed to alternate worldviews but also to consider how they could work in my life.
The next "be" is to be reflective. Reflecting is how "we discover and compose meaning to our lives." I still remember the first day I took that "be" seriously. For a long time, I was terrified about being alone with my thoughts. I would run to the endless distractions around me, digital or physical. Being left alone and reflecting on life is something I never did and was genuinely scared to do One day, I decided to sit alone with myself in the Houghton Garden, a small nature reserve directly off the Upper Campus, and take that second "be" seriously I remember the feeling that I had when walking over there more vividly than maybe anything else in my life. I was so excited! The colors around me were bright. Deep inside me, I was floating through every cell in my body. I felt warm; I felt alive. I felt so confident on my walk over there that something significant would happenin my life.
I sat on the rock that was carved into a bench, and I felt. I watched the leaves fall from the trees into the stream and flow in front of me. I watched the branches blow in the wind while the sun filtered through them. That feeling inside of me was still there. And for hours, I sat with my thoughts. It took work to sit alone with myself. There were always things to do and apps to scroll through that kept me away The day I decided to take myself seriously was when I decided to sit with myself and just exist I kept returning to that garden throughout that fall Meeting myself felt like meetinga new best friend
That feeling I got from the garden that day I have only felt a few other times. I was not religious when I went there. But while there, I considered some of the things I was learning in my Engaging Catholicism Core theology course. Eventually, a few months later, I decided to try to go to church and then to confession. I sat with the priest; I told him things I have never told anyone else, the absolute darkest parts of my soul I was completely vulnerable with him and he told me he still loved me When I sat down with him and told him it had been more than 10 years since my last confession, he exclaimed, "Welcome back!" I have never felt more open and vulnerable, yet so loved, than I did in that confessional. That feeling of bliss rushed over me. In every cell of my body, I was floating.
That day, I decided to get confirmed in the Church.
By being attentive, I noticed those moments in my life when I felt that feeling. By reflecting, I have resolved that those moments were important ones in my life and ones God wanted me to notice. I feel like God brought me to that garden, God brought me to that priest, and God brought me to Boston College, where I could discover my faith To reflect is to discover and compose the meaning of my experiences I reflected on God's work throughout my existence
The final "be" is to "be loving." That might be the most important of them all Being loving is how you treat
I came to Boston College somewhat indifferent to life. Now, I look at the world and see God's beautiful creation. Sonder is that feeling when you realize every passerby is living as real and complex a life as yours. I feel sonder not only for other people but for every part of creation. In every leaf, in every blade of grass, in every hand-railing, in everything I try to see the work of God I feel absolute joy when I look at the world, the colors of the sky, and the beautiful balance in nature; I feel that absolute joy that I used to cut myself off from The world can sing; Ijust needed to listen to hear it
By being attentive and reflective, genuinely opening myself up to different perspectives, and considering how they could fit into my life, I opened myself up to a love of this world I couldn't feel before. Suppose Socrates was right, and education is more than putting knowledge into souls, but turning the whole soul around and directing it at what is good. In that case, the value of a Jesuit education is not in the facts you learn but in a change in the way you interact with the world. My Jesuit education opened me up to a whole new world of lifeaffirmation. In everything, I see God.
Kyle Sutton ‘24 is a graduate of Boston College with majors in political science and philosophy This article originally appeared in the Summer/Fall 2024 issue of C21 Resources
