Graduation Homily
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 193 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
It is good that we are here today to celebrate the graduation of our seniors from cathedral prep boys high school my name is father Luke I've been the chaplain here for five years and it's been an absolute privilege to serve as chaplain of cathedral prep high school first I would like to extend my gratitude to the parents the catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children and you've done a good job and continue to do good job and serving your children in that capacity on behalf of the entire faculty here at cathedral prep it's been a privilege for us to serve in a secondary responsibility of serving your children and their education at this time I'd like to turn the gaze of this homily to our graduating seniors Pope emeritus Benedict the 16th once said the world offers you comfort but you were not made for comfort you were made for greatness there's a St who captures this tension between worldly comfort and greatness that's the story of Saint Ignatius he was born in the 18th 1400s in Spain in his early childhood and teenage years he dreamed of imitating the army heroes and that of chivalry in his early 20s he became an officer in the Spanish army he pursued what Thomas Aquinas called the four substitutes for God's wealth power pleasure and honor and I'm sure you remember those from junior year philosophy in battle Ignatius took a cannonball to the leg and shattered his leg he became bedridden and in the place of recovery the doctor came to visit him for the first time and since Ignatius journey from the place of battle back to the place where he was bedridden to recover was so long his late began to heal and the doctor told him that we need to rebreak the leg and Ignatius said go ahead and do it and what it needs just tells us in his writings is that the moment the leg was broken he showed no exterior sign of any pain at all he was an absolute brute the true soldier he was a fighter during his recovery he asked for books to read on chivalry and honor those worldly comforts but the nurse told him that the only had two types of books one of them was the life of Christ and the other was the life of the Saints so we decided to read them and as he read them Ignatius realized that there are other types of heroes that disarming heroes Ignatius began to ask himself what if I became like Saint Francis or Saint Dominic and in service of God I became a true hero two thoughts began to emerge in the mind of Ignatius on the one hand was the thought of the worldly project the thoughts of chivalry those four substitutes of wealth power pleasure and honor what Benedict the 16th said the comforts of the world the worldly project this brought him initial joy but he was soon left empty in time on the other hand in nations began to dream and think about the holy project in other words living the life of the Saints this brought initial joy but that initial joy didn't leave it augmented it grew it became permanent in his heart Ignatius realized that the lasting joy must be from God himself once he healed Ignatius left his sword at the altar sign of letting go of the worldly comforts and those four substitutes and giving his life totally in dedication to God he went and lived in a cave praying to where he came up with his discernment of spirits which helps people to discern what's up God and not of God it's helped Catholics first centuries he then became a priest and then he started the missionary order of the Society of Jesus known as the Jesuits some of our first missionaries in the United states say nations story I think is the story of the mind of the high school senior there's two options before you it's either you're going to pursue the worldly project pursuing wealth power pleasure and honor those substitutes for God or you're going to pursue the holy project the thoughts of living like the Saints those are the only two options remember what Benedict said the world offers you comfort but you were not made for comfort you were made for greatness and this greatness can only be found with God that's what Ignatius shows us in his life I don't think there's any better passages for graduating seniors than what we found in today's mass readings.
the first reading by zekiel he's God says I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered I will bring them back to their own country the loss I will seek out the straight I will bring back think of ignacius falling away into the wealth pleasure power and honor God goes and gets them in the gospel of loop today we hear of a God who leads the 99 civil war and we hear Jesus say rejoice with me I have found my lost sheep no matter where life takes anybody God is able to reach them there that's the true depth of Catholicism God can reach everyone everywhere he has that power what this gospel passage teaches us is that the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we celebrate today is absolutely and deeply in love with each of you personally that's the Sacred Heart of Jesus I have three final thoughts for each of you as you move on to college a few of you to the workforce we have a couple of our seniors who were entered the military and I'm happy to say that we have two enter Catholic seminary the first bit of advice I have for you is this I encourage you to continue to go to confession in my experiences as chaplain and speaking to the alumni those who share with me that they go to confession they're happier their lives are more ordered they're psychologically more at peace and I think that they're pursuing their dreams in a way that's very healthy for them I don't I don't have the data I don't have that to prove to you all I can tell is that the alumni who go to confession seem to be happier go to confession and those who go to confession seem to celebrate the other sacraments as well remember today from the gospel Jesus said I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one Sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance go to confession it brings joy to heaven the second thing is that now that you have the opportunity to call the school and ask for a conversation with me in the future as chaplain I set aside time every week to speak with alumni I'm always speaking with alumni we can have a conversation about whatever you're going through just call the office they understand how it works they'll give me your number I'll call you back at a time that's convenient for you OK all feel free to call as your chaplain especially for those of you who will feel the call to priesthood maybe not right today maybe six months from now a year from now five years from now 10 years from now you feel the call to pretty soon give me a call I can help you to navigate and get you in direction with the our spiritual director or with the vocations director in the Diocese of Erie the last thing is do exactly what Ignatius did look to the Saints that's the great take away from Ignatius he looked to the Saints it transformed his life remember Pope Benedict the 16th when he said the world offers you comfort you were not made for comfort you were made for greatness and the only the only way you're going to reach greatness is if you look to the Saints the true heroes of the faith and change your life in pursuit of everything for God God bless you in your journey and thank you