Note: This message was originally sent on December 24, 2021
JOY
Joy is what God gave to the world when he sent us his Son to us on Christmas Day.
Joy is what Jesus said he wanted to give to his disciples at the Last Supper.
Joy is why we lit the third candle of the Advent wreath.
And joy is what Fr. Steve Kuder exuded anytime he smiled, joked, or spoke about faith. “There was always cause for great joy,” he would say.
On this Christmas Eve, as we anticipate the celebration of the greatest gift humans ever received, I hope you and your loved ones are full of joy, in the same ways that you have filled the hearts of the Gonzaga community with joy.
There is another common “Kuderism” I want to remind you of today: the constantly evolving relationships we have with one another and God. Those once students who became alumni, and then parents of Zags, friends who then became family, professors who became mentors—the possibilities are beautiful and endless as together, we grow into new roles every day in these brief moments of our much larger journey.
People and places come and go from our lives as we travel this path. Sometimes it feels they are taken from us far too soon. It’s so easy to question in moments of grief and loss, “where is the joy in this?” But I promise you just as Fr. Kuder would have—it is there. There is joy in their memory, joy in the parts of them we carry with us each day, and joy in looking forward to how we can keep their legacies alive.
We are so grateful for the many Gonzaga family members who have honored the University with the opportunity to be their loved ones’ legacies. There are beautiful tributes in the endowed scholarships and initiatives named in memory of these members of our community —like the legacy the Kuder family just established for our dear friend Steve through the scholarship bearing his name. Smiles of our past will come flooding back in the stories of the students benefitting from this loving generosity. And in that, there is so much joy.
So, on this blessed eve, we offer a refrain that Fr. Kuder likely hummed when he was around our students’ age, and I hope you feel every bit of it leading into the new year:
Joy to the world—all the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea—joy to you and me.