This has nothing to do with decorating graduation caps, but it is
a marvelous address to the students who graduated from St. Scholastica given by Fr. Alphonsus, God bless him!
June 10, 2023
Delivered at St. Joseph’s Church, Ray, MI
Dear Graduates,
Over the 12 years of Catholic education that you have received at St. Joseph’s, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and St. Scholastica’s, you’ve had it drilled into your minds and hearts that you have been created by God to know, love, and serve Him in this world so that you can possess Him and enjoy the Happiness of Heaven one day.
Happiness! We enjoy being happy, and each of us is looking for happiness, whether we realize it or not. The question is, are we looking for happiness in the right place?
The world looks for happiness in fun, fame and fortune.
Look at the Hollywood movie stars: they chase after money, fame, and beauty. But are they happy? If they were, would they get divorced (again) and get yet another facelift?
Look at politicians: their goal is power and control. And yet, are they happy? They’re only puppets, completely dependent on their money-making overlords.
Look at the billionaires: they only want money, and more of it. But are they happy? To get to where they are, they have to sell their soul and compromise their moral principles.
Worldly people end up empty inside, because they’re looking for happiness in all the wrong places. As Shakespeare says, all that glitters is not gold.
As traditional Catholics, you know this. You know that you have been made for something better than the fun, fame and fortune of this world.
But as you leave your years of schooling at St. Scholastica Academy behind you, and you go out into the workforce or off to college, you will meet with a variety of challenges to your eternal happiness.
God will allow you to be tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And He will allow this to find out if you are determined to find your Happiness in Him and in Heaven, or if you will live selfishly, looking for a false and fading happiness in yourself or in the world.
As Christians, you are called not to live narcissistically for yourself, but for God and for others. We must look beyond ourselves – we must look higher.
This is what the Latin word “Excelsior!” means. Or as we pray in the preface of the Mass, “Sursum corda!” which means literally, “Hearts upwards!”
And so, if you are looking for success in the work world or in higher education, you must keep your goal focused on what matters: God and Heaven. As St. Paul tells us, “Mind the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth.” (Col 3:2)
But how are you to find true Happiness? There are three means that we’re going to look at right now; and they’re easy to remember, because they all start with the letter “F”:
I. Faith.
II. Family.
III. Friends.
I. FaithIf you want to find true Happiness in the work force or in college, you must not let your faith become stagnant; it must not be left in the back recesses of your memory: it must always be in the forefront of your mind, influencing the way you think, the way you act. If you do, you will be happy.
Neither can you leave your faith only in your intellect, something you enjoy arguing about with others, just to prove you’re right and they’re wrong. Even if that would not be a dead faith, it would be using faith for selfish purposes.
No – your faith must also be in your heart: and when we say heart, we do not mean your emotions. Your heart is your will: you embrace your faith whole-heartedly. As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, it is your love for your Catholic faith that makes it a living faith. (ST II II q4 a4)
And if your faith is not only in your mind but also in your heart, it is something that you love, whether it gives you nice feelings or leaves you feeling completely dry inside.
If your faith is truly in your heart, it is something you will treasure, something you will fight for, something you will sacrifice your entire life and being to.
If your faith is truly in your heart, you will live your faith: you will ask yourself, “How does God look at this?” And this will permeate your entire life: your work, your studies, your politics, your entertainment; everything about you will say, “I am a traditional Catholic, and my faith is what matters most to me.”
But how are you keep the fire of love for your faith burning in your heart? Three things:
Firstly, by continuing to study your faith. When you love someone, you try to find out everything about that person; to know how they think, to know what they love.
If you love your faith, you will continue to learn about it every day of your entire life. And not in some dry, mechanical way so that you can win at Catholic Trivial Pursuit; but in a living, loving way that will affect your thoughts and form the way you think and feel.
Secondly, you can keep the fire of love for your faith burning by receiving the Sacraments regularly: especially monthly confession and weekly Communion.
God is never outdone in generosity, and if you are able to take time out of your busy schedule to attend an extra Mass, or make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, God will give you the helps you need in times of difficulty and trouble.
Thirdly, prayer is essential if your faith is to remain strong and vibrant. Remember that God is always with you, beside you, within you. Prayer will remind you of His loving and merciful presence; prayer will help you see how He always draws a greater good from every evil.
Prayer will help you seek God’s Will; prayer will help you do His Will; prayer will give you strength in difficulties, and humility in success.
In prayer you will find Happiness – because in prayer you will find God.
Faith is the first means of finding true Happiness. That brings us to the second means…
II. Family.God has given you your parents, and they have cooperated with Him for 18 years now in forming your mind and molding your heart to know, love and serve God.
The fact that your parents have given you a good traditional Catholic education through all your years of schooling is proof of their love for you: they put your faith and your eternal Happiness above any other consideration – before their own finances, and before the thought of other extra-curricular activities that you might have received at other secular schools, but where you probably would have lost your faith.
Your parents have helped make you the person you are today. If you look at the world around you, you see people confused, not knowing who they, not even knowing what they are.
Thanks to your parents, if you are asked, “Who are you?”, you know what you will answer: “I am a child of God; I am a traditional Catholic. My faith and my relationship to God is what defines me; this is what I am, this is who I am.” And this is where you will find Happiness.
Because your parents are good traditional Catholics who know and love their faith, you know that you can trust them. When questions come up in life – as they inevitably will – go to your parents, ask for their advice.
As you go out into the world, God will let you be attacked by temptations against faith, temptations to doubt the value of the Catholic morality that you have been taught. When that happens, do not try to figure it out all by yourself. Certainly do not rely on the answers of worldly friends or professors, let alone advice sites on the internet.
Have the humility to ask your parents. They will continue to support you and help form your thoughts and your heart about matters of politics, business, and education, so that you can see everything from a Catholic perspective, from God’spoint of view.
Your parents love you. And your family will always be your family, even after you get married and raise a family, or perhaps follow God’s calling into the religious life.
Continue to serve your parents and your siblings. If you sacrifice yourself to make your family happy – just for love of God – you will be happy too.
And never forget the good example that your parents have given you. St. Alphonsus said that it was his mother who taught him how to love and serve God. I can say that the memory of my father’s patience and perseverance through all the crosses of life is what has helped me to imitate – in some small way – his virtues.
Do not underestimate the good example that you have been given by your parents and siblings during your years at home. They are the models and mentors that you can follow in the practice of Christian virtue.
Your traditional Catholic family will help you find true Happiness. And that brings us to our third point…
III. Friends.God has given you your traditional Catholic faith, He has given you your traditional Catholic parents.
But who your friends are is almost entirely your own choice. And it is vitally important that you choose your friends wisely: friends who will help you find true Happiness, and not just worldly happiness.
There’s an old saying that goes, “Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.” And this is true.
And that’s why it’s so important to choose your friends wisely.
In any relationship we have in life, it’s good to ask ourselves, “Is this person leading me towards God, or away from Him?” And likewise: “Am I leading this person towards God, or away from Him?”
Because the honest answer to these questions can help you avoid a lot of useless mistakes and unnecessary heartache in life. God must come first.
We are very much influenced by our friends, for good or bad. Good friends encourage you to live a life of Christian virtue; they challenge you to live up to your Christian dignity; you are left with a sense of that true Happiness that can only come from God.
Bad friends might be fun to be with, but they leave you feeling empty inside. They drag you down by their habits of bad language and immodest talk; their drunkenness and their drug abuse. They try to influence your thoughts away from God, away from the Church, away from the Truth. You might feel a worldly sense of happiness when you’re around them; but they will leave you feeling profoundly unhappy and full of regrets afterwards.
This is why you must not let yourself be influenced by bad companions. Do not follow the wrong crowd.
Rather, be leaders! To be a good leader, you must know how to be a good follower. Choose wisely who you follow. Only follow a mentor who leads you closer to God, to Heaven; a mentor who has the same values you have.
You are not meant to be passive, to mindlessly follow others away from God. By your baptism, you are meant to lead others. And not to lead them according to your own will. You are meant to lead others closer to God, to Heaven, to true Happiness.
And if you succeed in following God and in leading others to Him – even if you fail at everything else in life – you will have succeeded in the only goal that really matters. And by sharing the Happiness that is in you, by sharing your traditional Catholic faith with others, you will find an even greater Happiness.
We’ve seen 3 means for you to find true Happiness:
I. Faith.
II. Family.
III. Friends.Dear Graduates, congratulations on the completion of your schooling!
But this is not an end; it is only a beginning, which is why we call this ceremony a commencement: today is the first day of your life beyond school: a life that you have been prepared for by your parents, your priests, your teachers.
A life that is meant to be spent, not for yourself, but for God and for others. And by loving God, and serving Him in your neighbor, you will find the true Happiness that your heart desires.
As you go out into the world, I give you my best wishes. But I do not wish you simply worldly success, which can never last; I do not wish you worldly happiness either, since this cannot content your heart.
What I do wish for each of you is the true Happiness that only God can give; that Happiness which is His own Happiness, and which He wants to share with you; and His Happiness is nothing less than Himself. He will not be happy giving you anything less.
And He deserves your heart in return. If you give yourself to Him, you will find true Happiness. Nothing else matters.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, God’s Mother and yours, guide all your steps in life, so that you may taste and experience that Happiness which only God can give – and which, in His loving Goodness, He wants to share with you. God bless you now and always. +
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