Commencement 2002
Senior Address
By Luke Reilander, Class of 2002
June 8, 2002
"The Effects of Conversion"
[Luke Reilander was selected by his classmates to give
the Senior Address during Commencement Ceremonies on June
8. Reilander was awarded a full scholarship to attend Ave
Maria College of Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this fall. Following
is the text of his Address.]
 Well,
we made it! We have finished, somehow – all of us, I'm
sure, with God's help, some more than others, and still others,
I think, only by a miracle of God's infinite mercy.
It has been difficult for me to gather my thoughts about
the significance of this occasion, this graduation from Thomas
Aquinas College. This college has had a profound impact on
the lives of every one of my classmates; each one of them
has a story of how they have been changed over their four
years here. It is a daunting task to be a representative of
all these accounts, to speak about the thoughts of so many
people who are just as worthy as me to be up here today. Thus,
in my modest attempt, I have used several of the themes, images,
and ideas that have come from numerous conversations with
my classmates, concerning the role of the college in the shaping
of their lives.
We have often heard of the benefits of a Great Books liberal
education, the unique quality of the Christian intellectual
life here at the college, the unparalleled community and friendships
springing therefrom, and a program that rightly orders the
minds of men in a world of disorder. While this is all true,
there is something more significant, something more powerful
that occurs at this college: conversion – conversion
in the broad sense of the term, a turning-towards God and
His will, a change of heart to the Truth.
From the time when we started out as freshmen, four years
ago, 36 people have left our class. I am certain that they
all do remember this school, and it is through talking with
many of them that I have been struck by the extent to which
their lives have been profoundly changed by the college, even
though they did not finish the program and were only here
for a short time.
Some of our departed classmates discovered their vocation
to the married life, finding their marriage partner, even
within their very first year, such as David Arias and Sara
Foss. Others discovered a vocation to the consecrated religious
life, such as Jet Prudencio and Sarah Block. Many others underwent
interior changes of the soul, being transformed just as deeply,
yet hidden from outside view. In seeing the Christian moral
and intellectual life being lived out on campus, they experienced
true conversions of the heart to God and to His call to follow
the truth. These were people such as Rob Rajotte and Sarah
Holmes.
And finally, there is the example of our classmate and friend,
Dan Fleury,
God rest his soul, who is a source of inspiration to us all,
who died last summer in a tragic car accident. It is on account
of the search for truth at this college, staunch agnostisc
though he was freshman year, that he converted to the Catholic
faith, being baptized and confirmed a few months before he
died, and gaining the greatest reward of all, eternal salvation.
These are all examples of classmates who did not finish the
four years of education here, but have been affected forever,
have been converted, have been shown the light, just by the
short time they spent here at the college.
And then there is us, we who have successfully completed
the four years. We have been exposed to the power of this
college for a longer time. How much more must we have been
changed. And I know this is the case. The class graduating
today is markedly different from the class that first entered
Thomas Aquinas College. Each one of us have had our conversions
to the truth, both interior and exterior. Our lives have been
changed forever.
But what is the cause of these transformations? I'm afraid
it is not the beautiful California weather, or our picturesque
Mission-style campus, or the top-notch cafeteria food cooked
by Bon Appetit. There is only one ultimate cause: God's divine
grace acting through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not
a mere coincidence that before every class, lecture or event,
here on campus, the prayer of Invocation to the Holy Spirit
is recited.
This morning, in fact, we have just celebrated a Mass of
the Holy Spirit. It is reminiscent of the first Pentecost,
2000 years ago, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Our Lady
and the 12 apostles. These 13 men and women were individually
chosen by God, not for any strength or merit of their own,
but because of their weakness.
Before Pentecost, they had been in close contact with Our
Lord Jesus Christ, receiving three years of instruction, intellectual
formation, and theology taught by Our Lord Himself. The apostles
had lived in community with each other, experiencing true
camaraderie and friendship. They had learned the moral life,
seeing the virtues lived out in the Son of God. They had partaken
in the sacraments at their very institution.
However, even after seeing the Passion, Death, Resurrection,
and Ascension of our Lord, the apostles were still similar
to the people around them: fearful, doubtful, and untrusting
of God. But then there was Pentecost, a day where through
the action of the Holy Spirit and the power of God's grace
their souls were converted and the apostles were changed forever
into real followers of the truth.
This case is similar with Thomas Aquinas College in many
ways. Each one of us, the graduates, have a story about how
we came to this college, which reveal that is was no accident.
Through no strength or merit of our own, for a reason known
only to God Himself, we have been chosen to end up here, to
partake of the great blessings, the many goods, both natural
and supernatural, physical and spiritual, that are found at
the college.
St. Thomas often says that grace builds on nature. The fruitful
reception of God's grace which transforms people's minds and
hearts and souls, is not made possible without a natural preparation
of some kind. Before the Holy Spirit acted at Pentecost and
the grace of conversion occurred, there was needed the prior
natural preparation of the apostles, during the three years
of Our Lord's ministry on earth.
Likewise at Thomas Aquinas College. The mysterious workings
of Divine Grace are only made possible by human actions, by
the sacrifices and gifts of real people. Those converted must
be naturally prepared to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Because of this, we have many people to thank who have made
this natural foundation possible. First, our parents, without
whom we wouldn't be here. Then the founders of the college,
and the Great Books program they created. We thank the donors,
the tutors and the rest of the staff, the priests, the student
body, all of whom are the natural human agents by which we
have received an intellectual, moral, and spiritual formation.
Ultimately, however, it is the free gift of God's grace using
that natural foundation, that transforms the lives and hearts
of ordinary people, into true sons and daughters of God. This
is what is so significant about Thomas Aquinas College, and
that is why it is to God that we must be eternally grateful.
Our Lord says, "To those whom much has been given, much
will be required." Let us remember that since we have
received many blessings, our hope for the future lies in continuing
to work in humility, in naturally preparing ourselves and
those around us, for the reception of grace.
Today is unique, for this is most likely the last time on
this earth on account of the accidents of time and the vicissitudes
of fortune, that the set of characters gathered here today
will ever be actually present together again. Whereas other
schools would see today as the last time that they would be
united together in community, we, as Christians, see this
day in a different light.
Today is not a last day, but a first day, a beginning, a
commencement on our paths of the new Christian life that we
have been converted through our years at this college. Let
us remember that through the Church we continue to be united,
now and always, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ.
We are one in Christ through the sacraments and we are joined
through prayer, by which we are made spiritually present to
each other.
There is, also, another future occasion when we will be actually
united once again, those of us here today, and those who have
gone before us. Just as we are here gathered now on account
of the Great Books, so on that future day, the Last Day at
the end of time, we will be called together because of another
book, the Book of Life, on whose pages our names are engraved
as members of the City of God. I pray that we meet again then.
Dan Fleury, we will see you there.
May God, through His Holy Spirit, continue to pour down the
graces of conversion to the Way, the Truth, and the Life onto
this college and its community, and may God grant us all,
through the intercession of Our Lady and all of the saints,
the grace of final perseverance.
Thank you and God bless you.
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