2018 Baccalaureate Mass and Dinner

“It is a particular joy to be with you tonight to celebrate such a wonderful occasion. It made me think back, many, many years ago to the very first class I had in college in philosophy. It was fascinating because the professor said we were going to study the philosophy of mankind; the philosophy of being a human being.  He began with an image that is very much in my mind tonight. He said that human nature is like a diamond. He said the fascinating thing about a diamond is you can look at the whole diamond, you can appreciate its beauty, but you don’t really understand it completely until you start to look at one facet then turn it and look at another facet, then turn it and look at another facet. In some ways he said you can never appreciate the full beauty of a diamond all at once. You had to look at it facet by facet, side by side, catching the right light, seeing it in a different way, turning it and looking at it from different points of view. That was a great thing for me to learn and something that I’ve been thinking about as I was preparing this homily tonight and about your class. I’ve been privileged to be with you for two years, I know your teachers have been for much longer than that. But, in many ways as the chaplain to the school, I have gotten to see you from all of those different lights. I’ve gotten to see some of you on (Summer) Outreach, on Emmaus Retreats, in the Cafeteria, in the Campus Ministry Office, on the athletic field, in the library, all kinds of places. For me, each of those facets of your life are so beautiful and so wonderful. Ones that have struck me most recently...I remember walking into the gymnasium on the morning when so many of you were giving blood. To see you, many of you waiting on line, many, with needles in your arms, donating blood some eating cookies afterwards trying to rehydrate yourselves after the experience, but being so impressed, that facet that I saw was your love, you generosity, your kindness. That is one of the great things about being the chaplain to St. Edmund Prep. I get to see that in so many of you and in so many different ways. To hear about your journey, to share in your insights, to see your kindness and your generosity. To see, whether it was Project Night Night or being on the Emmaus Retreats hearing you share your thoughts, or being in religion class, or even just in the hallways,  having somebody come up and say to me, “Father, say a prayer for someone...”, all those things. I see in those moments such beauty and such grace.

There is another facet that was on my mind today and it was from last week. It was to see all of you on prom night. That was a whole other experience! Not quite the same as seeing you in chapel. What I saw that night was friendship. I saw love, I saw unity, I saw how you have really bonded together with one another. Dancing; not just individual dancing, but group dancing, all of you running out to be with one another on the dance floor. You were having such a great time loving each other and loving being with one another. That facet for me was a really important thing to see.

On the Emmaus Retreat, I got to hear some of you tell about the most serious parts of your life. The things that touch your heart and things that are so important to you, the ways that your life has been such a journey and how you’ve had high moments and low moments on that journey and the great courage and great openness you were willing to share part of your story with me and with one another. That facet of your life. It was such a beautiful, beautiful thing and so important. I’ve gotten to see you laugh and celebrate, rejoice and dance, and I’ve seen you at serious moments, being there to help one another, to sacrifice, to raise money for different causes at different events. The point that I want to make is that idea of you being a diamond is such a real thing for us. We’ve seen so many different aspects of your life and throughout these days we celebrate them. At prom we celebrate one facet. Tonight we celebrate another facet. At graduation, another facet. At your graduation parties, another facet. With your families, in a different way. All of those gifts, all of those blessings, all of those parts of your journeys are so important, so beautiful, and so much of what we give thanks tonight to God for. We thank God for your openness, for your contribution, for your willingness to listen and share. I can’t thank you enough for the support that I have always felt from the school. If I’ve asked for anything, (even when I talk too long…) you are always kind to me and receptive and open. I really have to tell you how much I appreciate that and how much that means to me as a priest and as a man. You are willing to share that part of your life and to be open.

Today, we gather first and foremost to look at all those facets at once and simply say, Thank you for that. Thank you for this class. Thank you for their strength, thank you for their holiness, thank you for their grace, thank you for the blessing that they are to us. Thank you for the way that they love their families. Thank you for the sacrifices they have made and that so many people have made for them. Thank you for all of those things that have gone into making them who they are and in doing so, making us who we are. Because, we become who we are by who you are with us. I can’t tell you the number of days I have gone to school and walked home saying you made that day for me, a good day to be a priest. I really want you to know that. That you’ve made me a good priest. You made me feel that my vocation is important; not perfect, not without its flaws, but you have accepted me, you’ve challenged me, you’ve tested me God knows. All of that is what human life is about. So, I along with the faculty, the administration, and your parents gather to give thanks to God for you. Thanks for the high points and even thanks for the low points where you came to us or where we were able to go to you and together continue on that journey, even when it was difficult. I’ve seen some of you carry tremendous crosses with such courage and such honesty and such dedication to moving forward...it inspires me. It inspires me all the time. I want to thank you for sharing that part of your life with me.

The gospel that we heard today is the one that I really want to preach about. From John’s Gospel and it happens in the last speech, the last discourse that Jesus gives to his disciples the night before he dies on the cross. And this part that we read from tonight says this. Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13) I have marveled at the ways that you lay down your life for each other and how you have laid down your life together to achieve things, to journey forward. To grow in faith, knowledge, wisdom, friendship. In all of those values that the St. Edmund Prep community stands for and tries to value and cherish. You have lived up to them. You have challenged us to be better at them. And I hope that you have been challenged by us to discover them more deeply in your own heart and live them to the best of your ability.

Part of what Jesus is doing in this Gospel is this. He is saying to his friends, “I am leaving you. Tomorrow I am going to die on the cross and eventually ascend into heaven. But, I am not leaving you finished. I’m not leaving you done. In fact, I am leaving you with a legacy.” That is part of why we are here tonight. To remind you, to pass on to you as you go forward, the legacy of a St. Edmund Prep graduate. That is to be all of those things that we have seen you becoming over the last four years. I think the world is going to be so blessed by the things that you do and by the way that you live. I’m so thrilled about what I know that you are bringing to so many college experiences, that you are bringing back to your home and family, that you are bringing to summer jobs and internships and other experiences. You are bringing such strength, such wisdom, such goodness, such kindness and generosity. One of the things I have said to your class, and I really believe this, in the times when I am celebrating mass and I got the impression that some of you just were really that into it, (at least not as much as I was...that’s fine!) what this group is so excellent at in their Christian journey, if you say to them two words, “Help me”, they will show up in a half a minute. They will show up with arms open ready to do what needs to be done. They are such a giving, generous, loving group of men and women. I am so proud to have been part of their growth and part of their experience of becoming the adults they are emerging as and thinking about all the lessons that their adult years are going to bring to other people in their relationships, their classmates in college, to the communities they will be part of, and to your own families, growing in wisdom, age and love.

Let’s hear the words of Jesus. “Be my disciples. Go into the world and love one another as I have loved you.” Remember how he has loved us. He has loved us unconditionally and perfectly. When He says that, remember the model of love that he gives us in that Gospel is not “love one another the way you want to be loved”, or “love one another in a kind way”. He says, “love one another as I have loved you.” How does he do it? With sacrifice. By emptying himself out for one another. You have emptied yourselves out in so many situations that I’ve witnessed. You emptied yourselves out in support of each other, in friendship, in kindness, academically, poured yourself into your studies, athletically, poured yourself into developing the gifts and talents to succeed and be well and you have done well.

I think of the parables that Jesus told, my favorite being the one about the servant that he finds working hard. The master says “Well done, good and faithful servant. You were responsible in small matters, now I am giving you greater matters.” That is the message for me tonight. You have done well. You have such a gift to give. You have such a strength to give. You have such a wisdom to share. You have such a power to let come into the world and change it. Make it a better place, a more loving place, a world that functions more the way that God created it to be. A place of harmony, peace and joy where brothers and sisters live together in a community of faith, hope, and love.

So, I offer this mass for you, along with our administration, with our faculty, and with your families. We pray that God may pour out His blessing on you today and everyday of your life. May he give you strength when you are weak, courage when you are afraid, the wisdom you need to keep growing in the knowledge and understanding of the world so that you will continue to discover and prepare and reveal the gifts that He has given you so that those gifts can be used for the good of yourself, your family, and the world. Your contribution will be the contribution that Jesus asks us to bring. It will be His love manifest in the world by you being who He created you to be. By you being the best self that he has created you to be. Developing, strengthening, and sharing those gifts.

May God be with you as you celebrate these days and celebrate all the facets of your life, all the facets of your success and accomplishments. Enjoy them, rejoice in them, and go forward and keep doing the good work that God has called you to do. May God continue to help you fulfill the work he has begun in you and may that work be fruitful in His kingdom and His vineyard and may you bring His love, His peace, and His joy to whatever you do. Amen."