All Saints Day ● Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 ● Psalm 24 ● 1 John 3:1-3 ● + Matthew 5:1-12 ●
Title: Blessing / Commencement / Beatitudes
[_01_] At the time of high school or college graduation, there is something called the Commencement Speech - also known as the speech to the graduates.
It may seem odd to call a graduation and the conclusion of
one’s studies a “commencement”…but as I just read this term is a hold-over
historically from the Middle Ages when such a graduation marked the beginning or
commencement of one’s teaching. That is, those who were graduating were going
to start or commence giving instruction.
The Sermon on the Mount – Matthew, Chapter 5 – marks a
beginning in Matthew’s Gospel, coming just after Jesus has been in the desert for
40 days and called the first disciples – Andrew, Peter, James and John.
Soon after, Jesus gets up on the ancient equivalent of a
podium – the mountain.
[_02_] One of the things that a good commencement
speech does is not only to help the students to “memorize something” but also
to have a “mission going forward”
In an academic setting – whether at Seton Hall or Stanford
– the speaker is usually someone notable, even famous or we might say
“blessed”. For most of us, we may not remember what the speaker said at our
graduation, but only that he or she was blessed or favored or successful.
We often equate “blessing ” and success or prosperity.
Jesus of course has a different definition of blessing.
This will be a challenge – perhaps – to what we have
learned or previously memorized.
Nevertheless, the commencement speaker – by his his or her
success – and by imparting something to the students enables the students to
give themselves or persevere.
[_03_] We might think of
the Beatitudes as more of a Commencement Speech rather than a classroom exercise.
In this moment, the listeners – the early disciples – have
been to school for some time. They know the commandments. The Beatitudes are
certainly not meant to replace or re-work the commandments, but to tell the
disciples and you and me about the reward of following the Commandments.
E.g., there is a reward in loving someone to the end, to
the ultimate. Jesus himself said, “there is no greater love than to lay down
one’s life for a friend.”
He also says, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you. These are examples of loving to the end, to the ultimate.
That’s the commandment.
What is the encouragement in the “commencement speech” /
Beatitude message:
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”
The fact that there is a reward – or gift – in mourning or
sorrow is surprising. Isn’t it best to avoid mourning? Sorrow? Or to minimize
it. You know the song – big girls don’t cry … and the same for big boys.
But we cannot actually
avoid sadness or sorrow. It will come our way. All of us at some time will
confront the sadness of the death of a family member, friend, spouse, the burden
of a loved one’s illness, the grief of uncertainty.
As a priest, I have been privileged – blessed – to
participate and be present at times of great sorrow for you. I learned this
from a priest and I agree with his description of priesthood as relationship within the church.
He speaks of being “father” …”brother” … “son”.
Yes, I was assigned to you by the Archbishop of Newark as a
spiritual father and witness to the Gospel…yet I am also a brother with you on
the journey. And, from you, I am also a son/child.
And as son/child/student, I have been blessed to learn – to
be schooled – by your love for each other and care for each other at times of
sorrow.
Blessed are they who mourn for they will be consoled.
You have also consoled me at times of difficulty.
[_04_] The Beatitudes, in
this way, are not “extra-curricular” activities like sports or clubs we might
join.
But, they are “after school” in that it might take us a few
extra hours …or years or decades to come to understand them.
The Beatitudes – to use another metaphor – are also a
program or app for life. They are not electronic but we do have to download
them intentionally and they will be there with future upgrades and challenges.
The Beatitudes can be a wonderful meditation for us to read
and re-read regularly in our prayer time.
[_05_] A good
commencement speech stays with the students who heard it to remind them that
their lives are not yet finished, that they are continuing.
Jesus offers us the Beatitudes to tell us the blessing of continuing to walk with him and be with him.
[_06_] In 2005, a famous graduation/commencement speech was given at Stanford University in Palo Alto.
The person selected to speak who was perceived as so
blessed and so successful was Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple Computer.
Steve Jobs is the designer of the original Apple Macintosh
and Apple iPhone, and more…
This was 2005, Steve Jobs, at Stanford. It stood out for a
few reasons:
1. Steve Jobs was an
“underdog” or “rags to riches” figure
who himself never graduated from college but was very successful and admired.
2. Steve Jobs himself was
also an underdog in another way in that by 2005, he was 12 months into his new
life as a cancer patient.
A year earlier, he had
been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This speech stands out as Steve Jobs
triumphant over his illness.
But, it’s also a reminder that we can be blessed in times
of illness by those who love and care for us and by recognizing how precious
our lives are.
While the 2005 graduating class hearing Steve Jobs was
encouraged by this, we are called to remember that Jesus’ program and
commencement speech for us, is not about finding the perfect career or making
millions while we are young, having a perfect well-adjusted family or beating
an illness.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be consoled.
[_07_] While I hope and pray for health and strength
for all of you, our Lourdes parish family and for myself and those whom I know,
I also have to recognize that the blessing of this life but with with eternal
life.
And, this is time of All Saints Day and All Souls Day when
we pray for the deceased.
Just a reminder…our All Souls Day Mass for our beloved
deceased is Monday Evening at 7 pm. All are welcome.
Jesus also wants us to know the blessing of following him, no
matter how rejected we have been or feel, we are still his disciples.
The sacramental life – of going to confession, receiving
absolution, receiving Holy Communion or even making a spiritual communion from
home – reminds us that while our hearts may be troubled or anxious or even
broken, we can unite ourselves to God by our repentance and reconciliation.
Blessed are the clean of heart, they will see God.
All Saints Day reminds us that there are many unknown and un-named
saints. Very few of us will be canonized
but we all hope to see God.
[_08_] We are also
called to remember that life is fragile. It starts even before we were born and
continues after we die.
In God’s time, we are all young.
In the beginning of Steve Jobs commencement speech, he
tells a part of his biography that helped him to connect the dots of his life.
He points out that we really only connect the dots when we
reflect back on what has happened – it’s hard – sometimes impossible to connect
the dots in the mad rush of life.
But, his connection reminds us how precious life is for
each one of us. Steve Jobs started out
as valued and important simply because he was loved and also chosen. He
was chosen for “life” not only by his biological mother who put him up for
adoption but also by the family who adopted him.
Before his adoptive parents ever knew him, all they knew
was that they wanted to adopt a child. They were working-class people and one
thing they had in common with the future son was that neither of them had
college diplomas.
Steve Jobs’ mother was pregnant as an unwed college student
and she put him up for adoption, insisting that the couple that take him would be college-educated.
Yet, because the first couple in line dropped out ..and the
2nd couple was not college-educated.
Now, while Steve Jobs’ father was not college-educated,
Steve learned much from his father about design, electricity, electronics, in
the garage, skills that he later took to his own laboratory and garage for
Apple.
Unquestionably did his adoptive parents love him and help
him prosper.
It is part of our Christian ethic to say yes to life at all
stages. This is often perceived as a No, or presented as what Catholics /
Christians are “against” or what we prohibit.
However, such a YES brings life. It’s also that the YES of
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross his death for you and me – while were still
sinners – is a reminder that his atonement is greater than any of our actions. God’s forgiveness is bigger than you and me
and it does not run out at graduation. It is always a new commencement
exercise.
[_09_] Steve Jobs expressed it this way that – later in his life
as an adult – he was able to connect the dots and see where he came from.
That’s a blessing for any one us to know, especially
because everyone of us is a sinner in need of God’s grace.
[_10_] Jesus is giving us
the Beatitudes to help us connect the dots now – and to avoid being defeated.
We feel turmoil right now, whether we are in the stock
market the supermarket.
Jesus gives us the beatitudes so that we also might teach
others by our own lives. Remember that “commencement” in its original meaning
meant that those receiving diplomas were being sent to start teaching.
We can learn and start teaching that the sadness we live
through now is also related to the consolation of knowing we have been loved
and chosen by God and that in doing so we can also share God’s love and
compassion.
Or, as Jesus asked at the end
of the parable of the
Good Samaritan: who was neighbor to to the robber’s victim?
And, they responded: the one who treated him with mercy.
Jesus said, Go thou and do likewise.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
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