The following was delivered on May 19, 2013,
at the University of Notre Dame Commencement Ceremony in Notre Dame Stadium by
His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan. It is perhaps the best commencement speech
I have ever heard.
Thank you, Notre Dame, for the
joy of your company, the gracious invitation, the warm welcome, and the high
honor of this degree.
It was so obvious I almost
missed it . . .
See, ever since, almost a year
ago, Father Jenkins, with characteristic thoughtfulness, invited me to deliver
this commencement address, I’ve been mulling over just what to say to you,
class of 2013.
Only Friday a week ago I still
had not yet completed this talk, and I got on the train in New York City to
travel to D.C. In Philadelphia, a distinguished looking man boarded the train
and sat next to me.
He turned out to be a
fanatical, in-your-face, obnoxious Notre Dame alumnus! You ever met one? Nice
to meet you! Now I guess I am proudly one, after the privilege of this honorary
degree which I so appreciate and cherish! He begins to speak with obviously
radiant pride and gratitude about Notre Dame, telling me his faithful Jewish
parents wanted him to attend a Catholic college - - because, in their words.
“The Church founded the universities, and educate better than anybody else” - -
and reporting to me that, even as a faithful Jew, he considers his four years
here at this Catholic university a gift beyond measure. When I told him I’d be
here for graduation, he beamed.
“Father,” he went on, holding
my arm and looking me in the eye, “let me tell you the secret of Notre Dame.
It’s not the library, as first-rate as it is; it’s not the professors
and courses, as stellar as they are; it’s not the campus, as enchanting as
it is, or even the football team, as legendary as it is. No, the secret of
Notre Dame is really a person, whom we Jews call ‘Miriam,’ and you Christians
call ‘Mary.’ She’s there ... she looks down from the ‘golden dome’; and, if you
really want to discover the secret of Notre Dame, visit that grotto you
Catholics call “Lourdes.” There’s something there ... no, there’s someone there
... we call her Notre Dame, and she’s the secret of her university.”
Thank you, Howard. Hope you’re
listening to me now, as you promised me on that train you would. Because with
those words you solved the riddle about what I should say in these few moments.
That was Mother’s Day weekend; it was May, the month dedicated to her; and I
had just returned, with fifty sick and disabled people, from a pilgrimage to
the “real” Lourdes in France. So obvious I had almost missed it ... I’m going
to speak of Notre Dame ... Notre Dame ... our Lady .... Mary, the mother of
Jesus.
One can make the point that
she’s perhaps the most important human person ever. Even history itself is
divided “before” and “after” the birth she gave to her firstborn. She was there
at Christmas at His birth; at Cana, His first miracle; at the foot of the
cross; at Pentecost, the feast we celebrate today.
“But when the appointed time
came, God sent His own Son, born of a woman ...” St. Paul writes to the
Galatians;
“And while there in Bethlehem,
Mary gave birth to her firstborn ...” records St. Luke;
“Mary said to the servants at
Cana. ‘Do whatever He tells you ...'’’ reports St. John;
“Near the cross of Jesus stood
His mother ...” recalls the Beloved Disciple;
“The apostles were in
continuous prayer, together with Mary, the mother of Jesus ...” writes St. Luke
in the Acts of the Apostles, in the account of Pentecost.
Notre Dame ... Our Lady ...
John Ruskin held that “every
brightest and loftiest achievement of the arts, dreams, advancement, and
progress of humanity has been but the fulfillment of that poor Israelite
woman’s prayer, ‘He who is mighty has magnified me!’ ...”
While Wordsworth extolled her
as “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.”
“All things rising, all things
sizing, Mary sees sympathizing ...” ... claims Gerard Manley Hopkins, as
you, the class of 2013, have sensed her maternal presence “rising, sizing, and
sympathizing” these blessed years on a campus wrapped in her mantle, and praise
God that Father Sorin and that pioneer band of priests and brothers of the
Congregation of the Holy Cross placed this most noble endeavor under her
patronage from day one 171 years ago.
Might I propose to you, my new
classmates, class of 2013, that she’s not just our patroness, but our model. It
all comes down to this: she -- Miriam, Mary, Notre Dame, our Lady -- humbly,
selflessly, generously, with trust, placed her life in God’s hands, allowing
her life to unfold according to His plan. She gave God’s son a human nature;
she gave the Eternal Word -- God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed
Trinity - - flesh. That’s called the Incarnation. God became one of us.
“And the Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us.” The Incarnation ...
Now, as you complete years at
this acclaimed university dedicated to her, you are asked the same pivotal
question the Archangel Gabriel once posed to her: will you let God take flesh
in you? Will you give God a human nature? Will He be reborn in you? Will the
Incarnation continue in and through you?
I dare say you gratefully
claim that God’s Word has certainly taken flesh on this campus in your years
here: in your classes and professors, in your friends and service projects, in
the prayer and sacraments, in the “all-nighters” and exams, in the memories and
promises.
And now it’s your turn to let
God take flesh in your lives.
You can answer the way Mary
did, “Let it be done to me according Thy will” -- Fiat ... or, you can reply
with a term New Yorkers use, “forgetaboutit!”
Notre Dame challenges us to
reply, Fiat! Yes! For, at her best, this university has the heart of Mary,
meaning this university gives us Jesus and His Church, and clings to them both
with love, loyalty, and service.
Here at Notre Dame we do not
strive to be like Harvard or Oxford, but like Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana,
Calvary, and the Upper Room at Pentecost ... with Mary, as the “Word becomes
flesh” in the one who called Himself “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
Here our goal is not just a
career, but a call; not just a degree, but discipleship; not just what we’ve
gotten but what we’re giving; not just the now but eternity; not just the “I”
but the “we”; not just the grades but the gospel.
My friend on that train ride
ten days ago, now my fellow alumnus of this university, will be glad to know
that I took him up on it. Last night I snuck down to discover the secret of
Notre Dame. Kind of a cool breeze off the lake; the voices of visiting families
and friends, the songs, and laughter subsided as I got close; there were the
candles, hundreds of them, with wax droppings to remind us of prayers of past
generations; there many of you were, kneeling, standing, sitting on the ground;
there was quiet, there was a welcome; there was light; there was peace; there
was warmth; there was Notre Dame, Mary, our Lady.
There was Bethlehem, as I saw
moms, dads and grandparents beaming over their babies of twenty-two years ago,
now graduates;
There was Nazareth, as
families were united in prayers of thanksgiving;
There was Cana, as students
remembered miracles;
There was Calvary, as one or
two of you had tears in your eyes, perhaps recalling a past or present cross or
crown of Thorns, made a bit more bearable by the one also called the
Pieta.
There was Pentecost, as this
class whispered that favorite prayer of Father Hesburgh, united with Our Lady
and the apostles in that Upper Room, Come, Holy Spirit!
There, I joined my prayers
with yours, with hers, and entrusted her university, with her call, her
mission, her Catholic identity, her excellence, yoked to the truth of the
Gospel;
There I prayed for this class
of 2013, their folks and families;
There I prayed for Bishop
Rhoades, and for our much missed Bishop D’Arcy, for Father Jenkins, the board,
the alumni, the benefactors, the faculty, staff, for Father Dick Warner and
Congregation of the Holy Cross.
There I prayed for you, Howard
... because, on that train ride, you were right: at this grotto there’s a touch
of the transcendent, a hint of the beyond, a whisper of the sacred, that
reminds us that we’re not just minds and bodies, but hearts and immortal souls,
called not to a “crap shoot” called life but an adventure in fidelity that
beckons us to cast out to the deep, and, yes, even walk on water toward Him,
the Son of God, the Son of Mary; she’d remind us that He has a plan for us,
that these years of college have been a part of it, and that we’re happiest
when our plans are consonant with His.
There indeed was the secret of
Notre Dame, not something but someone: our Lady, who gave the Divine a human
nature, and invites us, equipped, please God, with what she’s given us here, to
do the same!
Congratulations Class of
2013.
May Jesus
Christ be praised!
May Notre Dame, our Lady, reign in our
hearts! Tell the world our secret!
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