May 28, 2013
This blog posting is an adaptation of my address at the Graduation Mass for the Class of 2013, delivered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on May 23, 2013
Graduates, it was probably early in your freshman year when someone told you off because you walked over the school seal in the main lobby. For all our insistence that you respect the seal by not walking on it, I don't think you heard a whole lot about the four words at its center during your four years. The Latin words are "Faciat Maria nos videre" - Mary, make us see. The instruction is intriguingly vague – make us see what?
At a fundamental level, I think Mary might want us to see her, to pay attention to her example, to be inspired. In a very real way at this school you could. Did you pay attention? Did you notice? Any time you walked up or down the center stairs at school, and it has to be hundreds and hundreds of times over these four years, you had the opportunity to see the stunning stained glass window in our Chapel. Most of the time, you had places to go and things to do; you barely glanced down. Still, if you ever sat in the Chapel in the morning when the sun rose over the gallery and the light burst through the colored glass, you witnessed something spectacular. Our Lady of Good Counsel looks at her son and instead of looking out at us, the infant Jesus looks directly into his mother's eyes and clings to the hem of her dress. Beautiful in its depiction of divinity and humanity. There was a time, years before you started school, when you too would hold onto a fistful of Mom's dress. And, awesome as Mom is today, you probably don't spend a lot of time staring intently at her, but there was a time. For us, the larger-than-life-size presentation speaks movingly of the Blessed Virgin Mary as our source of support and intercession, and of the loving, closeness of mother and child.
We say Mary, make us see. Really see. It's time to pay attention to what's going on. For example, we're slowly figuring out that what we do to the world matters. Did you notice? In the last month, atmospheric CO2 levels crossed the 400 ppm threshold, a wake-up call for us to get serious about cleaner sources of energy. Did you notice? Earlier this spring, more than half of all the honeybees in this country died almost at once. A quarter of our diet depends on pollination by those bees. We'd better pay attention.
Let me share Mary, make us see with you at a more personal level. My son Zach was unlucky enough to have his old man be his principal. I was frustrated with Zach in high school; he was content with the modest performance that comes with being on cruise control. I couldn't figure it out. He didn't hate school. After he graduated, he explained to my wife, "Through most of high school I just didn't notice stuff." It took me a long time to appreciate what he meant. Thankfully, once in college, it took him very little time to start noticing stuff. He found his passion in the study of landscape architecture, and has graduated eager to help make cities better places to live. He pays all kinds of attention to what goes on around him now.
You could say the light bulb went off. But if you're from Good Counsel, it all sounds a lot like the Xaverian value of zeal. Do you remember when Jimmy Stubbs brought drama and flair to his explanation of zeal at Large Community back in the fall? Hard to forget. My wish for you is that you will find something to be zealous about, something that really matters to you, and pursue it with single-minded devotion, ardent enthusiasm, and intense drive in its pursuit.
That's what Theodore James Ryken and St. Francis Xavier did. These two zeal-filled men are depicted in our Chapel's stained glass, flanked by tongues of flame. I think the flames signify the presence of the Holy Spirit but, perhaps, too, they are a reminder what great things can be accomplished when we discover what it is we were not only born to do but burn to do. Pay attention. Notice stuff. Your zeal could change our world.
May Our Lady of Good Counsel watch over you on life's journey.
Pay attention. Notice stuff. And Mary will make you see. God speed, Class of 2013.