Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City-Kansas was the principal celebrant and homilist at the 2024 Baccalaureate Mass for graduates of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. His words follow.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann
Baccalaureate Mass
Benedictine College
May 10, 2024
It is a joy and an honor to celebrateBenedictine College’sBaccalaureate Mass.
Benedictine College is a very special place, not primarily because of its beautiful setting on the bluffs of the Missouri River, but because the people who lead it are great men and women of faith and learning who have created a culture at this Institution where truth is pursued as vigorously in the chapel as in the classroom.
The late President John F. Kennedy,in hisJanuary 1961,inaugural address (I am old enough to recall watching it onablack and white televisionscreen), noted that he and his fellow Americans lived ininteresting times. Heobserved thatan ancientChinese curse was to wishfor someoneto live ininteresting times. Dear 2024 graduates, you are living ininteresting times.
On one hand, youhave grownup in an age of great scientific and technological advancement. Thanks tomoderntechnology, throughyourlaptop computer or yourcellphone,you have an incredible library at your
fingertips. Youcaneasily travel the worldin a way that was unimaginable75 years ago when I was born. You have the ability to communicate easily with people on the other side of the world. Thevariety and quality of food choicesthat you enjoyarevastlysuperior to whatwas available toroyalty in previous centuries. Similarly,you can accesshundreds of entertainment choicesanytime and anywhere.
On the other hand, you have come of age at a time of great cultural confusion. You are living in what some have termed a post-truth era. Sadly, many of your contemporaries have been taught that there is no such thing as objective and eternal truth. In the post-truth era, we can all have our own truths, even if they contradict each other. You can have yourtruth and I can have my truth. In reality, this means there is no truth!
We know that embryosintheirmothers’wombs possessa uniqueDNA, different from that of their biological mothersand fathers. We can even watch through advanced ultrasound technology unborn childrenintheirmothers’wombs. Physicians can perform in utero surgery onprebornchildren. Yet, we claim not to know when human life begins.
We have redefined something as fundamental to society as marriage. We deny that gender is something given to usand assert that we can defy biology by an act of the will claiming to bea differentgender or even a different species. These young people deservenot onlyour compassion butalso our respect because they are created in the image of God and are of such worth that Jesus gave His life on Calvary. However,it is neither respectfulnor compassionate to affirm them in what are delusions.
Duringyourcollegeyears,public health officials havesounded alarms about epidemicsafflictingyoung people. Theyarenotspeaking about the Covid pandemicthat caused most of you not to experience a high school graduation ceremony. Theyare talking aboutepidemics ofloneliness, anxiety, depression and even despair.
Dear graduates, you areindeed living the Chinese curse much more than when I came of age in the 1960’s. You areliving in veryinteresting times,that can be quite frightening.
Spiritual and Moral Recession
During thiseraofremarkablescientific and technological advancement,we have experienced a time ofspiritual and moral recession. Many of your contemporaries identify themselves as spiritual, but not religious. Asignificant number identify as agnostics. If there is a god, they are indifferent to God’s existence. For them,God has no relevance. Many even identifyas atheists. They deny the very existence of God.
These are not human advancements. In many ways, we are returning to a pagan past. Manydo notbelieve in a God of revelation. The spiritualwho are non-religious, place their Faith in gods that are no greater thanwhat their mindsand imaginationscan conceive. God is only whattheydetermine god to be. When we fashion god in our imagerather than understand ourselves to be created in the Divineimage, we have become our own gods.
Our value and the value of other human beings is no longer innatebut depends on our productivity. When,because of disability or illness or eventually age,we are no longer able to be productive, then our life andthelives of others are considered burdens.When we push God out, the world becomesvery dark andbleak.
The Christian Gospel: Guardian of Truth and Human Dignity
At Benedictine, you have been formed in an environment thathonors the existence of truth and human dignity. The scientific method and modern science is the fruit of a Christian culture.
It takes much more faith to be an atheist than to be a Christian. Anatheist must believe that the cosmos and ourworldare the results of pure chance. Scienceonly make senseif we believe there is intelligible order in the physical world, an orderthat can be discovered through observation and study. This means there must be an intelligence that brought the physical universe into being and existence. This is much more reasonable and plausible than the atheist alternativeof a cosmos that is result of chance.
Christianity offersussomething even more beautiful and powerfulthanjustthere must be a Creator of the Cosmos. We believethis Creatorhassoughttoreveal Himself to us. We believe the Creator of the Cosmosdesires to be in relationship with us. We have been created and built for communion with God.
This God has not only revealed Himself, but has also revealed the infinite dignity of human beings. We are made in the divine image. God’s ultimate revelationis His Word, the Logos –Jesus Christ. OurLord revealed on Calvarythe infinite value that God has placed on human life. We are of such worth that our Lord died for us, so that we would know the depth of His love, so that He could vanquish death and allow us to share in His Divine and Eternal life.
A New Pentecost
For the Baccalaureate Mass, we celebratea Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. The readings thathave been proclaimedare a set thatcan be usedforPentecost Sunday, the birthdayof the Church. It is the Feast that celebrates the firstoutpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the first Christians.
Jesus had given to theApostlesand the larger community of disciples an impossible mission – to make disciples of all nations. How could this tiny band of discipleswho had no earthly power or authority, no buildings, no books, no political influence, no money, no programs, no power point presentations,transform the world? Yet, in their lifetime,they spread the Gospel to the east as far as India and to the west as far as Spain.
If each one of usreconstructed our spiritual family tree, our spiritualgenealogy, we would all ultimately wind up in the same place – the Upper Room of Pentecost. We are all spiritual descendants of that tiny band of disciples.
Whatthose first disciples did have was theirwitness of theirownexperience of Jesus Christ – their witness to His life, ministry, teaching, humiliating passion and death and His Resurrection, His Victory of Life.In a relatively short time,they planted the seeds for the transformation of the pagan Roman culture into a Christian culture.
My dear graduates, you have been educated and formed here at Benedictine College to be part of a New Pentecost. You have been equipped to bring the truth, beauty and hope of the Christian Gospel to an era that desperately needs it.
Transforming Culture in America
During your time at Benedictine College, the Board of Directors issued a new challenge to the College to:Transform the Culture of America!
The vision statement of Benedictine College is to“build one of the great Catholic Colleges of America”in order to educate students“who will transform the world through their commitment to intellectual, personal and spiritual greatness.”
The strategic plan commits“the College to the same transformative work of the first Benedictines who saved civilization from darkness and set the world ablaze.” Dear 2024 graduates, you have been formed to be agents of change in culture and society. You have been preparedto model community in an age of incivility, to spread Faith in an age of disbelief that leads to hopelessness, and to be scholars who relentlessly pursue truth in a post-truth era!
The early Christians transformed the world by the witness of their love for each other. The pagan culture marveled at how the early Christians loved one another. The pagan world was drawn to the beauty and joy of Christian marriage and the Christian family.
A non-believing world was stunned by thecourage of the early Christianswho would die rather than deny Jesus and the truth of His Resurrection. The Christian culture that emerged from the heroism of martyrs created the modern university, great centers of learning where knowledge was pursued and the reality of Truth celebrated. This sameChristian culturegeneratedthe most beautiful works of art, architecture, painting, music and literature.
Dear graduates, we are not expecting much from you. Just to help transform culture, society and the world! You can do thisbyknowing who you are: Beloved Daughters and Sons of God; by knowing your missionisto bring the love of Jesus to others; by realizing that you are never aloneandthat the Holy Spirit is with you and in the reach of prayer; by striving to use your gifts and talents to glorify God and to serve others; and by infecting the world with the Joy and Hope that comesfromknowing the truth that you are God’s beloved!
Dear Graduates, you are living ininteresting times. Youhave been given a challenging mission. Our Blessed Mother, Mary,also lived ininteresting times. She was given the most daunting of all missions – to be the Mother of the Messiah. When Mary embraced her call, the Archangel Gabriel counseled her thatall things are possible with God.
Embrace your call. Allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow you! Be not afraid! All things are possible with God! Come Holy Spirit, come. Enkindle the fire of your love in the hearts of these graduates, so that they can set the world ablaze with the Truth of the Gospel of Life, the Gospel of Joy, the Gospel of Love! Amen!
