Transcript of Archbishop Sambi's Sept. 1 Homily

Homily, Opening All-School Mass
Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Archbishop Pietro Sambi,
Apostolic Nuncio

It is a joy for me to be here with you, students, faculty, and administration of Benedictine College, on your Opening Day, and to celebrate this Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit with you.

You are a living continuation of a tradition going back more than 150 years; Benedictine College’s Opening Day Mass. Moreover, you are connected to an even greater tradition, a 1500 year-old tradition, going back to Saint Benedict of Nursia and his dedication to the Lord, and to learning. Saint Benedict is the Father of Western Monasticism; he is the co-patron of Europe. His legacy has also been the promotion and cultivation of knowledge and faith through the centuries.

I would like to reflect with you, in a spirit of gratitude, on two great blessings that are yours: the blessing of a Catholic College Education, and the Blessing of a Benedictine College Education.

I.          The Mission of a Catholic College 

In Saint John’s Gospel just proclaimed, our Lord Jesus said: “Whoever loves me will keep my Word” (Jn 14: 23). Catholic educational institutions, especially Catholic Colleges, are places of encounter with the Word, with the Good News, with Jesus Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI, when he was in the United States last year, said, at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. on 17 April 2008:

Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost, every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God, who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth. This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching. In this way, those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church.

Here, we grow in knowledge, yes, but not knowledge as an isolated gift; we grow in knowledge as we grow in wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. These are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit recounted for us in today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord (Is 11: 2).

These are gifts that reside in the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests. These are gifts that are to flower on Catholic College campuses. These are the gifts that the Lord wants to grow in your hearts.

Pope Benedict, in that same talk to Catholic educators in Washington, D.C., posed a rhetorical question, one that is often heard regarding the Church’s involvement in education: Would not the Church’s resources be better placed elsewhere than in education, particularly in this country, the United States of America, where the State provides ample opportunities for education?

And, as you might guess, the Holy Father’s response to that doubt, to that dubium, was his resounding “YES” for Catholic Education! He reflected on the mission particular to Catholic schools, and on the way these schools contribute to the good of society, and to the Church’s primary mission of evangelization:

The Church’s primary mission of evangelization, in which educational institutions play a crucial role, is consonant with a nation’s fundamental aspiration to develop a society truly worthy of the human person’s dignity. At times however the value of the Church’s contribution to the public forum is questioned. It is important therefore to recall that the truths of faith and of reason never contradict one another (First Vatican Council, Dei Filius; St Augustine, Contra Academicos). The Church’s mission, in fact, involves her in humanity’s struggle to arrive at truth. In articulating revealed truth she serves all members of society by purifying reason, ensuring that it remains open to the consideration of ultimate truths. Drawing upon divine wisdom, she sheds light on the foundation of human morality and ethics, and reminds all groups in society that it is not praxis that creates truth but truth that should serve as the basis of praxis. Far from undermining the tolerance of legitimate diversity, such a contribution illuminates the very truth which makes consensus attainable, and helps to keep public debate rational, honest, and accountable. Similarly the Church never tires of upholding the essential moral categories of right and wrong, without which hope could only wither, giving way to cold pragmatic calculations of utility which render the person little more than a pawn on some ideological chess-board.

The Holy Father then spoke of the liberating mission of a Catholic education, especially within societies where a secularist ideology separates truth and faith:

The diakonia of truth takes on a heightened significance in societies where secularist ideology drives a wedge between truth and faith. This division has led to a tendency to equate truth with knowledge and to adopt a positivistic mentality, which, in rejecting metaphysics, denies the foundations of faith and rejects the need for a moral vision. Truth means more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good. Truth speaks to the individual in his or her entirety, inviting us to respond with our whole being. This optimistic vision is found in our Christian faith because such faith has been granted the vision of the Logos, God’s creative reason, which in the Incarnation, is revealed as Goodness itself. Far from being just a communication of factual data – “informative” – the loving truth of the gospel is creative and life-changing – “performative” (cf. Spe Salvi, 2). With confidence, Christian educators can liberate the young from the limits of positivism and awaken receptivity to the truth, to God, and his goodness. In this way you will also help to form their conscience which, enriched by faith, opens a sure path to inner peace and to respect for others. 

Pope Benedict XVI’s address to this nation’s Catholic educators also emphasized the Church’s desire to see that her schools at all levels maintain a strong Catholic identity:

Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution’s life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity, and far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual, or spiritual.

Ultimately, then, the success of Catholic education is something that cannot be measured in standardized tests or with academic statistics. Its success, according to Pope Benedict, rests in its ability to integrate faith and intellectual formation. This follows a theme charted several years earlier, by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II, in his 1990 Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae (“From the Heart of the Church”), when he called on all Catholic Universities to make institutional commitments to the pursuit of truth and to authentic Catholic teaching.

We pray, in this Eucharistic sacrifice, for all those institutions at the heart of the Church that have heeded this call, offering faithful witness to the way of Christ as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church’s Magisterium. Today, we pray in thanksgiving for one institution in particular: Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

II.         The Blessing of a Benedictine College Education

It started with missionaries - Father Henry Lemke, OSB, who left Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania for Kansas in 1855, joined by two monks, to found a priory and then a school; seven Benedictine sisters under the direction of Mother Evangelista Kremmeter, OSB, who came to Kansas in 1863 and founded a school for girls. These heroic founders had a vision. That vision grew, and eventually their two schools merged, to become Benedictine College.

Being an academic community sponsored by the monks of Saint Benedict’s Abbey, and the sisters of Mount Saint Scholastica Monastery, with the presence of Benedictine sisters and monks on the faculty and on campus, the spirituality of Saint Benedict and the Benedictine charism are celebrated at Benedictine College.

The spirit of Saint Benedict’s Rule is expressed in the traditional Motto Ora et Labora: Pray and Work. Let us reflect on those two words:

1. Prayer:

Saint Benedict wrote in his Rule: 

We believe that the divine presence is everywhere. (RB 19:1)

Not everyone recognizes this presence, however. There is even a bias against young people in this regard. Your president once said:

There are some who say young people don’t care about their faith anymore. Let them come to Benedictine College where 150-200 of our students attend daily Mass, and almost 250 of them participate in voluntary Bible study.

This is the Church’s hope. In the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Servant of God John Paul wrote:

As a natural expression of the Catholic identity of the University (or College), the university community should give a practical demonstration of its faith in its daily activity, with important moments of reflection and prayer. Catholic members of this community will be offered opportunities to assimilate Catholic teaching and practice into their lives and will be encouraged to participate in the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as the most perfect act of community worship (ECE 39).

In addition to the Eucharistic sacrifice, Benedictine College celebrates a vibrant sacramental life and supports an active pastoral ministry. Confession, spiritual direction, Eucharistic adoration, retreats and campus ministry activities are readily available. And, here at Benedictine, I am told:  

• 30 graduates have entered the seminary or discerned a vocation to religious life since 2000
• A new Benedictine novice has entered the Abbey each year since 2000

This, again, is the hope of the Church, as stated in the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae:

Pastoral ministry is an indispensable means by which Catholic students can, in fulfillment of their baptism, be prepared for active participation in the life of the Church; it can assist in developing and nurturing the value of marriage and family life, fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life, stimulating the Christian commitment of the laity, and imbuing every activity with the spirit of the Gospel. Close cooperation between pastoral ministry in a Catholic University and the other activities within the local Church, under the guidance or with the approval of the diocesan Bishop, will contribute to their mutual growth (ECE 41).

2. Work:

To always be in conversation with God through prayer, and also to value the dignity of all work and human activity, are the dual charisms in the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Saint Benedict wrote in his Rule:

They are monks in very deed, when they live by the labor of their own hands, as our Fathers and the Apostles did before us (RB-48: 8).

And also:

Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore the Brethren ought to be employed at certain times in laboring with their hands, and at other fixed times in holy reading (RB 48:1).

The Church echoes today the timeless wisdom of Saint Benedict’s Rule:

Man, created in the image of God, shares, by his work, in the activity of the creator (LE, 25).

And for those involved in the Catholic education apostolate on Catholic College campuses, the Apostolic Constitution reminds us that a most fruitful work and a blessed labor indeed is:

the ardent search for truth and its unselfish transmission to youth and to those learning to think rigorously, so as to act rightly and serve humanity better (ECE, 2). 

3. Peace:

Another Motto of the Benedictine Confederation is PAX: Peace. In his letter to the Romans, our second reading today, Saint Paul writes:

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought (Rom 8:26).

And in today’s passage from the Gospel of John:

My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him (Jn 14: 23).

Just as this “indwelling of the Holy Trinity” this “coming upon us” of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, brings peace to the soul, so too the Lord’s “indwelling” on the campus of Benedictine College nurtures the faith and promotes the sure path to peace, now, as he has done for over 150 years.

In the Gospel of the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit teaches us “how to pray as we ought”; that the Holy Spirit “intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will”. Faith to the Gospel, we invoke the same Holy Spirit, who teaches us how we ought to pray, and who guides us in our loving intercessions:

• May all those who have been blessed with a Benedictine College education, especially the students present today, be always receptive to the truth, to God, and to his goodness; may their consciences always be well formed, and their lives daily enriched by faith; this is the “sure path to inner peace”.
• May Benedictine College, the Benedictine monks, the Benedictine sisters, and the lay faculty, remain faithful to the mission of the Catholic College and to the Benedictine tradition; may they never abandon this school apostolate.
• Come Holy Spirit, renew their hearts, and enkindle within them the fire of your Love.

Amen.