Commencement 1999
Homily, Baccalaureate Mass, Fr. Andrew Koch
Dave Koch stumbled onto the campus as a freshman in 1982,
a self-described "California surfer dude." On graduation
four years later, he found his vocation and was called to
the St. Benedict Abbey in Still River, Massachusetts. He took
solemn vows in the Order of St. Benedict in 1993. Following
is our abridged version of his Baccalaureate Mass Homily.
Although St Benedict, in his Rule for Monks, makes it clear
that it is by no means expedient for monks to be outside of
their monastery, I think that he would approve of my being
here today. For Thomas Aquinas College is surely, and in the
deepest sense, a place where God is sought. Indeed, this is
the place that I first learned in earnest about seeking God.
In our day, higher education is commonly conceived of as
a place of training for employment, philosophy amounts to
a relativism rooted in skepticism, and much contemporary theology
begins with a suspicion of Tradition. The Church's view, which
this College embraces, is quite different.
Rather, education is a pursuit of truth, a leading out of
the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge. For
the Catholic Christian, pursuing truth does not differ from
seeking God, and more particularly, God Incarnate, for Our
Lord tells us, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Philosophy, the love of wisdom, becomes in the New Dispensation,
a way of seeking Christ, the Author of all that is true, He
Who is Wisdom Incarnate. Theology, beginning with the Church
Fathers, becomes the contemplation not of a remote object,
but rather the loving gaze of intimate, personal relationship,
rooted in the deep trust of our God, Who enlightens us with
faith and wants us to call Him "Father." Your four
years here at Thomas Aquinas College have specially qualified
you to be friends of God.
Through the hard work of grappling with the Great Books,
you have taken part in the ongoing conversation about the
great ideas concerning God, man, nature, immortality, and
salvation; you have entered into society with the men whose
thought and labor have built Christendom and sustain our civilization.
With the treasuries of the Church's intellectual, liturgical,
and devotional life as your fonts, you have been nurtured
at a true oasis.
How fitting that you are launched full sail from your alma
mater today with the Mass of the Holy Spirit. In this Holy
Sacrifice, we ask our Almighty Father to fill you with the
gifts of which Isaiah spoke, which make the life of virtue
you have begun connatural, intuitive. Chief among these gifts
is wisdom, which St. Thomas tells us perfects charity, the
queen of the virtues; contemplating the very wisdom of God,
the wise man can love with God's love. True wisdom enables
us to choose the way of love in every situation, at every
moment. This is how we can say that charity informs all the
virtues, since, as St. Th‚rŠse of Lisieux reminds
us with her Little Way, we can do everything, no matter how
small, out of love.
Our Holy Father John Paul II reminds us that it is in the
obedience of the cross that the highest act of freedom is
found. In Veritatis Splendor, he writes: "The crucified
Christ reveals the authentic meaning of freedom, He lives
it fully in the total gift of Himself, and calls His disciples
to share in His freedom." It is in choosing the cross,
in other words, recognizing God's plan for us even in difficulties
and suffering, in obedience to the truth, that we become free
to serve the Church and so build up the Mystical Body of Christ.
Looking toward the millennium, the Holy Father has spoken
repeatedly about the New Evangelization. This is a call for
apostles in all the Church's members. Whether as laymen, whom
the Pope calls "the leaven and the light of the world"
as consecrated religious, "icons of the transfigured
Christ," or as priests, "living images of Christ
the high priest," the Church needs you to transform the
world.
The most effective evangelists are the saints, Christ's special
friends, because they preach not only with their words but
also with their lives. So often, it is by showing genuine
charity that people will open up their hearts to you. As you
have learned to read the Great Books, now you must learn to
read human hearts, discerning how you might bring others to
the truth; so often, we can help illumine minds once we gain
trust through the heart. By your Christian joy - there is
no such thing as a sad saint! - and by your faithfulness to
others, you can help the world to understand that our Heavenly
Father is faithful to the marvelous promises He has made to
His children.
The gifts you have been given, from your families, through
your education, through the Holy Spirit, the gift of God's
friendship, these are gifts for the Church. As St. Cyril of
Jerusalem wrote: "The Spirit comes with the tenderness
of a true Friend and Protector, to save, to heal, to teach,
to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Spirit comes to
enlighten the mind first of the one who receives Him, and
then, through him, the minds of others as well."
At the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,
our Blessed Mother was with the apostles. So she is with you.
She is our faithful Mother in heaven, our model as Jesus'
disciple, and our advocate with Him. Stay close to her and
imitate her. She is the ultimate contemplative, she who always
pondered the divine truths in her Immaculate Heart, bearing
the greatest fruit: first in her Son, and now in you.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Summer 1999
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