Mass of the Holy Spirit
20th June 2019
In the countdown of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to 2021, the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines, this year 2019 is dedicated as the Year of the Youth. During our Red Mass this afternoon, let us reflect on the theme of the Year of the Youth "Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered." We ask the Holy Spirit for the grace that our experience of being beloved become more fervent, our appreciation of being gifted become more profound, and our awareness of being empowered become more intense. Beloved, Gifted, Empowered, a word on each.
First, we beg the Holy Spirit to make our experience of being beloved become more fervent. Pope Francis wrote beautiful reflections on what it means to be beloved in his exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel.
“Every human being is the object of God’s infinite tenderness, and he himself is present in their lives (EG 274).” “Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. ... No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew (EG 3).” “There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter. I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. (EG 6).” This is important so let me repeat, “when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.”
Beloved is the Xavier Atenean. Jesuit education insists on cura personalis, individual care and concern for each person, care for the whole person. XU recognizes the many dimensions of the human person. We are physical people and we promote mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body. We are psychological people and we encourage growing towards realistic self-awareness and healthy self-acceptance. We are social people and we foster shared ways of establishing ourselves in the larger circles of family, community, and society. We are spiritual people and we seek communion with our God and with one another and strive to incarnate this communion in all the situations of our shared life. Xavier Ateneo recognizes the developmental stages of intellectual, affective, social, and spiritual growth and assists each student to mature gradually in all these areas.
Second, we implore the Holy Spirit that our appreciation of being gifted become more profound. The author Marianne Williamson wrote an often reproduced reflection about being ‘gifted’ in her 1992 best-selling book, A Return to Love.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Gifted is the Xavier Atenean. Jesuit education helps students to realize that talents are gifts to be developed, not for self-satisfaction or self-gain, but rather, with the help of God, for the good of the human community. Our prime educational objective is to form ‘men and women for and with others’. The magis (the ‘more’) is the fullest possible development of each person’s individual capacities at each stage of life, joined to the willingness to continue this development throughout life and the motivation to use those developed gifts for others.
Third, we beseech the Holy Spirit that our awareness of being empowered become more intense. Let me share a story of what it means to be empowered.
“A reporter was covering the conflict in the middle of Sarajevo, and he saw a little girl shot by a sniper. The reporter threw down his pad and pencil and stopped being a reporter for a few minutes. He rushed to a man who had picked up the child and helped them both into his car. As the reporter stepped on the accelerator, racing to the hospital, the man holding the bleeding child said, ‘Hurry, my friend, my child is still alive.’ A moment or two later, ‘Hurry, my friend my child is still breathing.’ A moment later, ‘Hurry, my friend, my child is still warm.’ Finally, ‘Hurry. Oh, God, my child is getting cold.’ When they got to the hospital, the little girl was dead.
“As the two men were in the lavatory, washing the blood off their hands and their clothes, the man turned to the reporter and said, ‘This is a terrible task for me. I must go tell her father that his child is dead. He will be heartbroken.’ The reporter was amazed. He looked at the grieving man and said, ‘I thought she was your child.’ The man looked back and said, ‘No, but aren’t they all our children?’”
Empowered is the Xavier Atenean. A traditional aim of Jesuit education has been to train leaders. Today, our aim is to educate leaders in service. Xavier Ateneo will help students develop the qualities of mind and heart that will enable them, in whatever station they assume in life, to work with others for the good of all in the service of the Kingdom of God. XU is rooted in the belief that a new world of justice, love, and peace needs educated persons of competence, conscience and compassionate commitment, men and women who are ready to embrace and promote all that is fully human, who are committed to working for the freedom and dignity of all peoples, and who are willing to do so in cooperation with others equally dedicated to the reform of society and its structures and to the care of creation, our common home.
Today, we pray together as one Xavier Ateneo community … Veni Sancte Spiritus, Umaari ka, Espiritu Santo, Halina, Banal na Espiritu … Come, Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful at Xavier University, deepen our appreciation that we are Beloved, Gifted, Empowered. Amen. Amen.