Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan began its three-day Commencement ceremony with the Baccalaureate Mass and Academic Convocation on 6 July 2023 at the University Gymnasium. University President Fr Mars P Tan, SJ presided over the Mass attended by the graduands and their parents/guardians, University awardees and their guests, University administrators, faculty, and staff, as a thanksgiving for the blessings God has bestowed on the graduates.

In his homily, Fr Mars highlighted how the four readings from the Special Mass for Blessings of Human Labor speak of two special blessings from God which the graduands could reflect on while looking back at the years they spent at XU. He emphasized two points - to be grateful to God and to all who have helped achieve one’s milestones in life and to hope in God in the future.

He also encouraged the graduands to become God’s co-creators by taking their work seriously because this “will always have a positive impact on us, enhancing our dignity as human persons and developing our potentials leading us to become the persons God wants us to be. The other essential reward is the person you’ve become now.” He added that it is in human work that people can contribute to the continuing work of the creation of God. “A good future is realized only when we do our part – that is work. Working in God’s vineyard is always the context you should take and have” as Xavier Ateneo alumni.

The Baccalaureate Mass was concelebrated by the XU Jesuits, the Augustinian Recollect Fathers led by Fray Bernard Amparado, OAR, the Prior Provincial of the Order, and the Canossian Fathers (FdCC).

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Homily from Xavier University Baccalaureate Mass
University Convocation 2023
Fr Mars P Tan SJ

My brothers and sisters, allow me to walk you through the four readings today to help you get a good understanding and appreciation of the two main points in my sharing or homily.

First reading (Gen 2: 4-9, 15). You’ve heard it; it is a creation story. God created the world. Yet God’s creation of the world has not stopped; it is a continuing work until now. As God’s children, we join and unite with him in his work of creation. Whatever good we do for humanity and creation is a participation in God’s continuing work of creation. We become God’s effective co-creators because of the work that we do.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 127: 1-2). It asserts that it is useless to work for something if we do not take into account the plan of God. Our labors whether it’s building an infrastructure or protecting the people will become useless if we ignore God and his plans. Our work is useless if God is not part of it.

Second reading (2 Thes 3: 6-12, 16). Work is from God, and we need to work to eat and to live; this is the orderly manner; but when we eat but refuse to work, that is the disorderly manner. Work is not an addition but essentially a part of our humanity and practical living as human persons on this earth. Work enhances our human dignity and productivity.

Gospel (Mt 6:31-34). It exhorts us not to worry about tomorrow. It sounds like we have to put aside our problems and just relax. Not really. The Gospel does not say that we stop working. Following the 2nd reading, we are exhorted to work because work is part of who we are and what we are and so that we will survive and live. But the essential difference is this – we continue to work but seek first the kingdom of God before anything else. Work has meaning only if God is at its center.

We go to the 2 main points of my homily. The Gospel speaks to you dear graduands of two blessings from God, which you can reflect on while recollecting your past years in Xavier Ateneo and while looking forward to your future life after graduation.

1. To be grateful to God and to all who have helped you achieve this milestone in your life. You joyfully thank the Lord for this great achievement – the reward of graduation, your ticket to many possibilities and opportunities in life after college, and this may lead you to success and more meaning in life. This is the external reward you will receive from your school, which you deeply thank the Lord for. But there is another essential reward, which we often miss to appreciate and thank the Lord for.

What is this? Let me explain to you. Four or five years is a long time and you graduands, obviously have labored hard and even go through tremendous sacrifices to achieve your academic degree. Work if taken seriously in the context of becoming God’s co-creators will always have a positive impact on us, enhancing our dignity as human persons and developing our potentials leading us to become the persons God wants us to be. The reward is the person you’ve become now, quite different (in a positive way) from what you were when you first entered the gates of XA two, three, four, or five years ago. Certainly, you have become wiser, tougher, more resilient, more creative, more loving, more responsible, more enduring, more generous, more open, and more humble (I emphasize the last one because often the case the Ateneo alumni would have less of this).

2. To hope in God for the future. Hope is a virtue but not easy to have. Yet hope is a necessary virtue if we want to advance from here and now. Hope in God is primarily not about having talents and adequate resources in our possessions but having faith in God regardless of what we have and do not have in life. True hope is our confidence that a good future is possible because of our faith in God who promised to us that He will not abandon us. My dear graduands, take heart and listen to what the Gospel is telling you, not worry about tomorrow. Do not be afraid of tomorrow; do not be afraid of facing the future after XA because God will always be with you and he will not abandon you. Have faith in God. But this assurance from God, if not properly discerned, will lead us to be presumptuous. That the future because of God’s promised intervention, will just be a walk in the park for us, easy and convenient but we all know that it’s not true.

That is why, hope in God is also about confidence in ourselves that we can make things happen, that we can do it. This is where the work comes in – human work is our contribution to the continuing work of the creation of God. Hope is not only a concept or an idea. A good future is realized only when we do our part – that is work. Working in God’s vineyard is always the context you should take and have. You are not going somewhere; you are going to God’s vineyard to work as an engineer, a teacher, a businessperson, an artist, a manager, a politician, a scientist, a staff, a nurse, a researcher, a priest, and many more. Moreover, in God’s vineyard, you cannot afford to ignore the owner and his plans. We should seek first his will before ours; first his kingdom before the world’s.

In summary: Here are the two graces you beg the Lord to give you:

1. Today, on your graduation day, be more grateful to God because he gives you this precious gift, your graduation, and He has made you into what you are now, a product of God’s goodness to you and your own labors for the past years in college or in the graduate school.

2. Face the future with hope in God and with confidence in yourself, using all the knowledge and skills you’ve learned from XA. Face the world, buckle down, and break new ground. Be a graduate of competence, conscience, and commitment, first and foremost, for God’s greater glory!

The four readings talk about work and also about you, graduands. Through your past work and labors, you were blessed by God, and we hope that through your future work in God’s vineyard, you will become God’s blessing to others. Amen