Recently, I was privileged to speak to the graduates of our five diocesan Catholic high schools during the Baccalaureate Mass that preceded each commencement ceremony. The following are excerpts from that talk, which I ask you to share with a graduate in our Diocese of a public high school. I want our public high school graduates to know that they are important to our Church and are in my prayers as they graduate.
Congratulations graduates of the Class of 2024! Congratulations are well-deserved and very much in order on your academic achievement, graduating from high school.
I also offer words of gratitude to your parents and guardians who share in your academic success through their love, encouragement and support of you. God bless the parents and guardians of our public school graduates!
Graduates, never forget that you are created in the image and likeness of God. You have a God-given dignity as a child of God and as a disciple of Jesus Christ. With the help of the Holy Spirit, may you put into practice Christian and decent human values, such as compassion, justice, responsibility, charity, care for others, concern for the poor, protection for the environment, and acceptance of all people without reference to the color of their skin, their religious affiliation or their language and culture.
The late Pope Saint John Paul II gave the Church a teaching that is called “The Law of the Gift.” “The Law of the Gift” teaches that a human person cannot achieve his or her full identity as a human person except through the gift of self. A human person cannot achieve fulfillment without giving herself or himself away. The gift of self. God did not create the human heart to turn inward, to focus on itself. Rather, the human heart seeks others.
There are many ways to make a gift of ourselves. We can give our time, our talents or our treasure. We can volunteer. Offering service to others. If you want more joy in your life, start by practicing “The Law of the Gift.” The question to ask – and the question that can change your life – is, “What can I do for you?” Your heart will begin to overflow. Moreover, if there is in you any deep-down emptiness, it will slowly disappear when you look with concern beyond yourself to others. Do your best to live “The Law of the Gift,” which is to live as a Christian.
A few years ago, at a Catholic school graduation in Rome, Pope Francis addressed the graduates. Class of 2024, read these words of the holy father as if he is addressing each of you. This is what the Holy Father said:
“You grow by encountering, and you grow by taking your leave. If you do not learn how to say goodbye, you will never learn to encounter new people. This moment of change in your life, graduation, is a challenge, but in life we have to get used to the journey of leaving behind something and the journey of meeting something new.”
Class of 2024, graduates, you are leaving behind, and that can be emotional. Following your graduation, you begin something new, which can also be emotional. Remember that we are all on a journey. For that journey, Saint Paul in the Letter to the Colossians gives you very practical and useful advice: (Colossians 3:14-15,17,23-24) (1) “Put on love”; (2) “Be thankful”; (3) “Whatever you do, do from the heart”; (4) “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts.”
These are guiding principles for your lives. They remind us that we do not live isolated in this world; we not only have a responsibility for the world, but also, we need to live in it as disciples of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we look beyond ourselves and see others and reach out to them. When we do so, we are living “The Law of the Gift.” Living as Saint Paul advises: with peace, love and gratitude. To live that way is humanly and spiritually fulfilling.
The popular expression, “It is better to give than to receive,” sums up “The Law of the Gift.” We receive back more than we give to others. The more you give away yourself, the more enhanced your life will be. Your life decreases in the measure you cling to it. Your life increases in the measure you give it to others. Live that way, and you will live like Christ.
Those graduates who are entering the Armed Forces, know of our gratitude for your service to our nation. We pray that you be kept out of harm’s way and that the nations of the world seek peace. Graduates who are moving on to higher education, seek out the Catholic campus ministry at your college. There, you will encounter Catholic students who are your peers. The staffs of campus ministry are ministers of the Church who will serve and guide you. Those graduates entering the work force, do your jobs well as you seek beginner’s work experience.
Graduates, stay close to the Lord and to our Church. Class of 2024: God bless you and congratulations!
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden