how will you dare to stand out?

Homily

6th Sunday of Easter

Graduation Sunday

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

17 May 2020

AMDG +JMJ +m

Congratulations Catholic Jayhawks! On your virtual/pseudo graduation.  I am so glad that at least some of us can be here in person!

Class of 2020, how will you dare to stand out?

KU Catholics aren't like everyone else.

At least I hope we aren't.  That would be so boring!

With all bias confessed, I think KU Catholics are the best.

My dream is that Catholic Jayhawks are the most courageous people the world has ever seen.

COVID 19 Class of 2020, how will you dare to stand out?

And I don't mean by infamously having your graduation canceled during a pandemic.

I don't mean missing your chance to walk down the hill.

I mean that I dare you to take more risks that I have.

Not reckless or selfish ones, but the risks inherent to your faith!

Yes, I dare you to go farther in faith than me.

To go beyond that impressive legacy of KU Catholics who have already borne great fruit.

I like to think of St. Lawrence as the Napa Valley of campus ministry.

I want you to be the best vintage in history

You got next.  Starting today.

And I dare you to fly higher, Catholic Jayhawks.

The best gift St. Lawrence can give you,

is our faith that you can, and you will.

COVID Class of 2020.

Your last semester was a raw deal.

The world your are entering is being torn apart.

I am sorry. It's not supposed to be this way.

Yet what makes you different,

is that absurd hope beyond hope that is in you precisely when life is going to shreds.

St. Peter says that when everyone else is predicting the worst and playing politics,

real Christians dare to stand out.

They show mercy to anyone who doesn't understand them.

And they give reasons for the hope that is in them.

Real Christians know the story and history of salvation,

that God never abandons His creation or his covenants,

but draws near and does his best work in the face of adversity.

My dear KU graduates, if you have made it to this holy Mass,

it's because you have already grown in learning the power of your faith,

and a love that conquers all things,

at a time when you were most at risk of discarding it.

All the moreso now, a world that is hurting, needs your class

to give reasons for the hope that is in you.

What hope do I mean?

I mean the hope of the family you belong to and the worldview you hold.

Your hope that as a disciple of Jesus your best story will be passionate like His, through suffering that comes from conflict and adversity.

Your hope that the crimson of KU reaches its deepest hue in the blood flowing from His sacred Heart, flooding your soul and all creation with mercy.

Your hope that you will only wave the wheat at the end of your life insofar as make a gift of your life, as that grain that falls to the ground and dies.

Your hope that the vision engraved on your KU diploma, of a bush that burns but is not consumed, is sealed even more by the fire of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.

Your hope that under the mantle of our Blessed Mother, the ultimate alma mater, your life will always tower toward the blue of heaven.

I mean that hope that is within you.

Class of 2020, fueled by that absurd hope against hope,

how will you dare to stand out?

I don't mean to get too sappy today, but I want to see your Rock Chalk Chant rising far above the phog of witnesses like me who have gone before you.

Thank you for trusting St. Lawrence to guide your story.

Your family the Church loves you and believes in you.

May the wonderful work God has begun in you be brought to fulfillment.

I hope at St. Lawrence we have given you more than a Catholic identity.

I pray that we guided you to a new capacity for writing a great story with your life.

I trust that the commandments of Jesus which you embrace,

are the launching pad of heroic journey.

So it's time to dare you, to take more risks than I have.

I dare you Catholic Jayhawks, to fly higher.

Our best gift is not the champagne and donuts waiting for you after Mass,

but it's our faith that you can, and you will.

COVID-19 Class of 2020,

our dear KU Catholics,

show us now - how will you dare to stand out?