I went to the high school graduation of one of my nieces today in Hutchinson. She attended Hutch Trinity, a small Catholic high school - small enough that her graduating class of 49 was the largest (or so I remember hearing) in the school's history.
Bishop Michael Jackels was the commencement speaker, and he began his remarks with the opening words of the classic Catholic before-meal prayer: "Bless us, oh Lord, and these thy gifts..."
And then he paused, with what from my seat in the back appeared to be a bit of an impish grin, almost to gauge the crowd's reaction. I couldn't help it - I laughed out loud. He had taken those words and used them in a different way; I instinctively recognized the "gifts" in this case were the students.
The point he went on to make was a salient one: that each of the students was a gift, yet the homes and educations and values they had been blessed with were gifts as well...provided out of love and devotion...and not products to which they were automatically entitled. Likewise the talents and intelligence they have begun to discover and utilize are gifts best used to make the world a better place and to help our fellow man; conversely, a life swept up in the endless pursuit of pleasure is a journey to emptiness.
I don't know how much of that message struck home with the giddy seniors, but its core truth resonated with at least a few of the audience members whose own high school graduations are but distant memories. We've had that truth drilled home by the hard and happy times that have come since the day we transferred the tassel on our mortar board.
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