can Jayhawks fly?

Homily

Solemnity of the Ascension

16 May 2021

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

Graduation Weekend 2021

Can Jayhawks fly?

It seems the appropriate pivotal question on this weekend when Jayhawks leave the nest and the Church celebrates Jesus going up up and away through His Ascension.

I don't know the answer.

I've been told definitely not.  Have you ever seen a Jayhawk fly?  Certainly not the dozens of Jayhawks affixed to pedestals all over campus.  There are vulgar legends on what it would take for those Jayhawks to fly.

Then again, Jayhawks seem to fly through the air at Allen Fieldhouse. We've had some incredible dunkers in our history.

Maybe it's a pivotal question best answered by the Aerospace Engineering department.

Actually, Jayhawks are not known for flying.  They're know for being mean.  The mascot was chosen for KU in the aftermath of the Civil War, in 1865.  The Jayhawkers were those fierce fighters who wanted Kansas to come into the union as a free state.  Two ferocious birds, the sparrow hawk and blue jay, were put together to make a singularly nasty hybrid called the Jayhawk!  

To be a Jayhawk is to be fierce and tenacious.  Is that you, class of 2021?  Do you know what you're fighting for.  Is it for the fullness of life, dignity and freedom?  Is that why you came to KU, to know what you will fight for.  Is that how you're leaving?

Jesus invites his disciples to a vertical way of life.  In his paschal mystery, we have seen Jesus free fall from the heights of heaven, from the heart of His Father, all the way to the depths of hell.  Today we celebrate the law of life and love, that what goes down must come up!  Jesus takes all of history and our redeemed humanity all the way back up. From there Jesus begins to work from home!

Up down, up down!  Jesus for sure has taught his disciples how to live horizontally, embracing responsibility and the chance to choose good and build virtue.  Yet He invites His disciples to a more courageous vertical way of life.  Jesus directs now from home through His Holy Spirit the risks taken by His disciples, to throw themselves into the battle against evil, and to rise through the Spirit into the dignity and destiny that His Ascension unlocks for them.

Mysteriously, Jesus is closer to us through His Spirit and sacraments, working from home, than He ever was before.  He makes room for His disciples to go, and to extend and complete His salvific mission to defeat evils!

So I know I have to speak figuratively, but I will speak with conviction.  Catholic Jayhawks are born to fly.  It has been such a privilege to guide these graduates during their KU years to be fierce!  Look out world, here they come!  Our graduates are capable of risk, vulnerability, commitment, communion, self-gift and contagiosity!  

So fly Jayhawks, fly!  Show us the evils that you will go forth and defeat, especially by living your faith with tenacity -as vertically as you can!