This is the full text of the homily of Xavier University president Fr Roberto “Bobby” C Yap SJ during the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, commonly known as “Red Mass” on June 23 at the XU Gymnasium. All photos by Billy Jo Macale/The Crusader Yearbook.
University president Fr Roberto "Bobby" C Yap SJ frontlines the celebration of this year's Red Mass with the theme, "Gratitude, Renewal, Mission."
As we begin a new academic year, we celebrate today – as is our custom here at Xavier – the Mass of the Holy Spirit. We ask that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom, will be with us all – teachers, formators, students, and staff – in our work of learning and inquiry, in our endeavors of formation and community service. We beg that the Spirit helps us all to grow in knowledge and goodness.
During our Red Mass, we ask our good and loving God to shower the Spirit upon us so that in the Spirit we may give thanks; in the Spirit, we may be renewed; in the Spirit, we may be sent forth in mission. We beg the Holy Spirit for the gifts of gratitude, renewal, and mission.
Gratitude. In the Spirit, we give thanks … and we have much to be grateful for. We have been bountifully blessed by the multiple recognitions of the quality education we provide at Xavier. After much diligent preparations for visits by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (or PAASCU) of almost all units of the University last school year, all the programs that were surveyed passed with flying colors. Our Grade School and our Junior High School were granted reaccreditation for five years. The programs of our College of Arts and Sciences, our School of Education and our School of Business and Management were granted reaccreditation for three years. The programs of Arts and Sciences, Education and SBM have attained Level 4 accreditation, the highest level possible. Our Industrial and Electronics & Communications Engineering programs were reaccredited for three years. Our Agriculture program was reaccredited for five years. Our top-ranking Nursing program was granted initial accreditation for three years. With these successful results, we will work harder this school year for our Institutional Accreditation. To God be the glory!
Last March, the Commission on Higher Education (or CHED) awarded our Agriculture and Teacher Education programs as Centers of Excellence … and our Biology, English Literature, Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical Engineering programs as Centers of Development. CHED recognizes Centers of Excellence and of Development as “potent catalysts for world class scholarship, best practices, innovative curriculum, research and extension and professional development.” Xavier has been blessed as the university with the most number of Centers of Excellence and of Development in Cagayan de Oro. Sa labing himaya sa Ginoo!
Fr Bobby expresses his gratitude for the recent international and national achievements of the university and asks the Xavier Ateneans to take inspiration from these lauds to strive harder, all in the name of God's greater glory.
Then, last April, CHED once again awarded Xavier University, Autonomous status. CHED grants Autonomous status to universities that “demonstrate exceptional institutional quality, excellent program outcomes in teaching, research, creative work and relevant community service.” XU is one of only two universities in Northern Mindanao deemed Autonomous. For God’s greater glory!
To cap it all, just last week, Xavier University was included in the international QS University Rankings as one of the top universities in Asia! XU was one of only eight Philippine universities recognized in the international QS university rankings for Asia. Xavier has been distinguished as among the very best universities certainly in the Philippines and also in Asia. Ad majorem Dei gloriam!
Our beloved Xavier has truly received countless graces … and gratitude is the echo of grace. Umaalingawngaw ang pasalamat sa ating mga puso habang ikinalulugod natin ang ating mga biyaya at pagpapala.
Renewal. In the Spirit, may we be renewed. School Year 2016-2017 is the first of many transition years. Schools all over the Philippines including Xavier University are undergoing major changes because of the full implementation of K-12, especially the establishment of Senior High School. Always, the invitation for such in-between periods is transformation and renewal.
In response to these external transitions, our inner transformation necessitates a renewal of our commitment to and practice of our core values. As Ateneans, we are constantly reminded to nourish our conscience through the Ignatian practice of cura personalis, care for the whole person; to cultivate our competence in the Ignatian spirit of magis, the more, the better, the greater for God; and to nurture our faith commitment rooted in the Ignatian value of finding-God-in-all-things so we can in all things love and serve the Lord, in omnibus amare, in omnibus servire Domino.
May our core values become living sources of our strength and resilience at this time of transitions and disruptions. In the Ignatian spirit of magis, cura personalis, and finding-God-in-all-things, may I enjoin you, partners in the mission of formation and education, to act on these challenges as invitations to growth rather than fear, compassion rather than dissension, and greater faith in our God whose light shines brightest in times when we are tested.
Members of the Xavier Ateneo community attend this year's Mass of the Holy Spirit in red, as per tradition.
Mission. In the Spirit, may we be sent forth in mission. Pope Francis invites us “to go to the peripheries, not only geographical, but also the existential peripheries: the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, and of all misery.” Pope Francis bids us in Laudato Sí, “to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” and be good stewards who care for creation, our common home.
In Misericordiae Vultus, The Face of Mercy, Pope Francis’ proclamation of this year’s Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the Holy Father exhorts us to savor intimately that “the name of God is Mercy.” “Mercy is the divine attitude that embraces, it is God’s self-giving that welcomes, that leans down to forgive.” This Jubilee Year, we are invited to feel especially the tenderness of God’s Mercy. So we in turn can share Divine Mercy with others through the Corporal Works of Mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead. And through the Spiritual Works of Mercy: counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinners, console the afflicted, forgive offenses, be patient with annoying people, pray for both the living and the dead. May we truly witness that “Mercy is the beating heart of the Gospel” and of our lives.
Today, we pray together as one Ateneo de Cagayan 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 with gratitude, renewal, and mission. Amen. Amen. ∎