Bishop Szkredka’s Homily at the Convocation Mass of the Holy Spirit

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by the Most Rev. Sławomir Szkredka
Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles
Baccalaureate Mass of the Holy Spirit
Convocation 2025
Thomas Aquinas College, California
August 25, 2025

Dear community of Thomas Aquinas College,

Today we welcome new students into our midst. Today we begin a new academic year. And today we pray for the presence, the power, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In this moment of beginning, I invite you to recall the very first beginning, the one recorded in the opening verse of Genesis. In that bereshit moment, “the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss,” and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. It was a time of silent waiting for God to pronounce His creative Word, as the Spirit stood ready to make visible God’s creative purposes.

As we begin this academic year, we ask the Spirit to fill this school, and to take possession of every student and teacher, preparing each of us in utter readiness to fulfill God’s creative intent.

At the same time, we recognize that this very prayer — that the Spirit descend and fill us — teaches us something. It reminds us that the pursuit of wisdom, with all its active and vigorous demands — we are to read, to research, to study, to grasp, to integrate, to implement, to apply — that this disciplined and rigorous pursuit, ultimately requires something very passive. To pray for the Holy Spirit is to assume a posture of receptivity. We are opening ourselves to being led, being guided, being formed. Thus, we recognize that our academic pursuit, with all its activities, requires also — and above all — deep passivity, a silent waiting to be formed.

In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the servant of the Lord. The servant is marked by several striking qualities. It is said that “he shall bring forth justice to the nations.” Literally, he will bring mishpāt — that is, judgment — to the nations. He will bring that divine decree that reveals what is true and separates it from what is false. Isaiah has no doubt that the Servant’s mission will be accomplished. Yet, while being so effective and so faithful to his mission, the Servant is first and foremost upheld by God. “Here is my servant whom I uphold.” Upheld by God, with the Spirit placed upon him, the Servant carries out his mission with utter gentleness. He reveals God’s true intent without crying out, shouting, or raising his voice. A bruised reed he does not break, a smoldering wick he does not quench.

“As we begin this academic year, we ask the Spirit to fill this school, and to take possession of every student and teacher, preparing each of us in utter readiness to fulfill God’s creative intent.”

When Saint Irenaeus commented on this verse, he saw it fulfilled, as can be expected, in Christ. But he also connected it with the experience of the prophet Elijah. Elijah encountered God not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a “vox auræ tenuis” – in the voice of a soft whisper, in a gentle breeze. “For, after the wind which rends the mountains, and after the earthquake, and after the fire, come the tranquil and peaceful times of His kingdom, in which the spirit of God does, in the most gentle manner, vivify and increase mankind” (Against Heresies, IV.20).

In the midst of study and discussion, argument building and defending, true education opens a space for interior silence. The seed of the Word must first rest in the darkness of the soil, wrapped in quiet, or else it will be snatched away by birds.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus urges us to “keep” His word. The Greek verb tēreō suggests a continual act — guarding, watching over, holding fast. It is in this silent holding on to God’s Word that the Spirit comes, reminding and teaching us. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit … will teach you everything.” He guides us to see the true intent of God’s words.

Consider Saint Francis of Assisi. During an intense prayer in the Church of San Damiano, he heard Christ say: “Francis, rebuild my church.” At first, Francis obeyed in the most obvious way — repairing the crumbling walls of San Damiano. But because his life was filled with prayerful silence, the Word had space to grow. Over time, Francis understood the deeper call: to rebuild Christ’s Church by embracing His poverty, tending to His broken body in the poor and the sick, and praising the Creator in the beauty of the temple of creation. In this way, the true temple of God — the Body of Christ — was renewed.

So it will be for us. If we cultivate prayerful silence and keep the Word rooted deep in our hearts, we will hear the gentle whisper of the Spirit. God’s mishpāt, his just decree, will be revealed to us. We will grow into God’s wise plan.

So, I pray in the words of St. Paul from our second reading today, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to His call, what are the riches of glory in His inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power for us who believe.”

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