Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.
August 29, 2015
Readings:
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8
James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27
John 16: 5-7, 12-13
Today, we are a people in transition. Summer is ending and a new academic year begins. Students are unpacking and families will soon head home. Faculty are finalizing last minute course details and staff are ready to launch the next phase of orientation activities.
Clearly, transitions are exciting as they generate new experiences and possibilities; but they also can be stressful as letting go of one reality can be as hard as embracing the changes which follow. Transitions can heighten vulnerabilities and insecurities, just as they provide opportunities for new relationships, insights and ideas. I suspect for most of us this afternoon, we find ourselves trying to keep focused on the excitement of the day while simultaneously suppressing our fears of the unknown.
That is why we gather here this afternoon. The Mass of the Holy Spirit has been a tradition at Catholic universities since the 12th century. At the beginning of each academic year, this liturgy offers us an opportunity to reflect on our shared aspirations and trepidations, in order to ask God for the gifts we need to live, study, work and celebrate life together. Ultimately, we pray that what lies ahead will be life-giving and transformative for each of us. On move-in day at Holy Cross, this liturgy also provides us with a prayerful way of marking an important transition in the lives of our students and their families.
Each of our readings this afternoon reflects a community in transition. In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses presents to his people their religious and civil laws which define for them who they are and how they are to relate to God and each other. Not only are they transitioning from a people searching for a country of their own, to a people about to take possession of the Promised Land, but they also discover that their revered and prophetic leader will not be going with them. Moses announces that he is stepping aside and surrenders his leadership to his disciple, Joshua. Moses sees the Promised Land in the distance, but knows that he will not be able to go with his community into it. He dies as the Book of Deuteronomy comes to an end.
Our Gospel passage from John describes a similar moment as Jesus and his disciples are gathered at the Last Supper. In his moving Last Discourse, Jesus prepares them for his suffering and death, a reality they naturally find difficult to accept. But Jesus assures them that he will not leave them orphans. He promises them an Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who will help them to live their faith confidently in a hostile world, and who will gradually reveal to them how they are to engage that world.
And finally, in the Letter of St. James, the author is writing to a community of Jewish Christians from Palestine who now live in the distant lands of the diaspora. James is encouraging them not only to acknowledge the truths of their Faith, but also to let those truths become embodied in acts of kindness, justice and compassion, especially toward orphans and widows, the most vulnerable members of their community.
Hearing these narratives from other communities in transition should help us this afternoon to interpret our parallel reality with hope. I suspect that over the past several months many of our new students have heard their parents remind them of the importance of their Faith and their family values as they enter into a more independent lifestyle here in their new home. And, just as Jesus, during the Last Supper, assured his disciples of God’s enduring presence in the Holy Spirit, I can hear parents reassuring their sons and daughters that God will be with them, strengthening and comforting them, in all the blessings and challenges which lie ahead. Finally, just as James invited his far-flung community to live actively the Faith they had received through their service to the poor, the vulnerable and the unprotected; so too, here at Holy Cross, the campus chaplains, faculty and staff will encourage our new students not only to participate in campus liturgies and worship, but to engage and learn from the underserved here in Worcester and far beyond.
This afternoon, while the majority of our collective attention is focused on our new students joining the Holy Cross community, for parents and siblings who will soon leave Mount St. James and return home, there are many transitions ahead, as well. While there may be some advantages to having one less person using the car, leaving a mess in the kitchen, or piling up the laundry, there are also significant changes ahead in the family dynamic and the patterns of life which have guided your households for the past 18 years. Things will be a bit quieter. You won’t have face and body language to read, when struggles or excitement are being relayed by phone. Those serendipitous moments of connection and conversation between parent and child may be fewer and far between.
Earlier this morning I met a couple whose son had already completed his move-in. As we talked, his mother said, “It really is hard to let him go.” And his Dad quietly added, “It’s time.” They are both right. It is hard, but it is time. And as my mother told me years ago when I was preparing to enter the Jesuits, “I have been letting you go since the moment you were born. If your Dad and I do this well, we know that you will always want to come home.” Mom was right. And when your Holy Cross students do come home, you may find these budding psychologists, economists, and theologians have strong opinions which challenge the way you see the world. But trust in God’s providence and wisdom. Further, education and independence should, in time, also stimulate maturity and responsibility, greater compassion and social-awareness, and an increasingly engaged search for meaning and purpose. When we gather four years from now for our Baccalaureate Mass, students and parents alike will have changed in ways which will clearly confirm that God’s Spirit has been moving within and among you in ways, which while not always easy, will surprise and amaze you.
And so, for our faculty and staff who have worked so diligently to prepare for this day and our new academic year, we pray for your strength, wisdom and creativity in the semester ahead. For our parents, whose selfless and generous love and careful planning and support (and for our generous benefactors who are also providing this educational experience) we are deeply grateful. And for our new students who are beginning a life-long membership in the educational community on Mount St. James, we pray that in the next few months of transition especially, you will find the Holy Spirit blessing you with peace, strength, intellectual insight and creativity; and in the next four years that the Holy Spirit will help you to discover those unique gifts and your distinct calling in life through which you will make a disproportionate difference in our world.
Today, we recognize that transitions have their challenges and possibilities. Consequently, in this Mass of the Holy Spirit, as new students, their parents, and faculty and staff, we collectively pray that each of us will discover how God in Jesus will use the blessings and challenges of our lives as opportunities to draw closer to us, to make us increasingly aware of God’s abiding presence and love for us, and to discover that in the Holy Spirit and each other we have all that we need to grow and flourish. Amen.
Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.