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“Let us Fall in love with this Sacred Mission”

by Rev. John Higgins (’90)
Pastor of Holy Cross Church, New York
Mass of the Holy Spirit
Thomas Aquinas College
New England Convocation
August 20, 2022 

I hope you’ll indulge me, to allow a personal anecdote on this auspicious occasion of the Mass of the Holy Spirit to inaugurate the new academic year here at Thomas Aquinas College, New England.

Throughout my early teen years, my dear late father always spoke about the need for a Catholic liberal education based on the Great Books. He was not a college graduate himself; he worked in construction, but it’s a need that he sensed. And as my older brother was getting closer to the time of his going away to college and discerning where he should go, he discovered Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California. It was exactly what he was looking for. It was amazing. My dear older brother, though he was bribed, did not accept the bribe and did not go. I’m not above a bribe. And I went. What a grace!

All through my father’s final years, he was always praying there would exist a Thomas Aquinas College, East. He spoke about it to my archbishop long before he was my archbishop, Cardinal O’Connor. He encouraged Mr. DeLuca from the West Coast campus to come out and look at some college campuses — this was 20 years ago! He never gave up on his idea that there should be a Thomas Aquinas College, East. When he passed in 2013, at his funeral Mass, the preacher quoted St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who said: “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth,” and he went on to say: “If you see a Thomas Aquinas College, East, being founded in the near future, you should know who was praying for it.” The rest, as they say, is history.

This incredible gift from God which is this campus, this college — we’re all so honored to be a part of it in one way or another. Just coming here early this morning, the windows open, I was here praying by myself with the Lord, and there was a fly that came in through the open window, and I thought: “Even that fly is lucky to be here in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in such a beautiful chapel, in such a beautiful campus, in such an extraordinary initiative of the Holy Spirit.”

Thinking back on my dear daddy’s prayer, it’s true: The Holy Spirit puts desires and longings into our heart, not to frustrate you, but to satisfy you. So, the words of our responsorial psalm: “Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.” Dear Thomas Aquinas College students and faculty and community: I rejoice that you are part of this work of the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth in a noble and invaluably important work of Catholic liberal education.

At the beginning of this academic year, it’s good to invoke the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to send into our hearts great and holy desires for passion and love for the truth, to enlighten and guide this academic year. We refer to Him by the Greek name from the Scriptures, the Paraclete, literally the one whom you call to your side. We ask the grace of that Holy Spirit to be in us in the words of our patron, St. Thomas, to make us submissive without protest, poor without discouragement, chaste without regret, patient without complaint, humble without posturing, cheerful without frivolity, mature without gloom, quick witted without flippancy. And he prays, “Grant that I may know what you require me to do.” That’s what we want the Holy Spirit to help us with this academic year, to keep us focused on our study and our mission. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit, this Paraclete that we call to our side, is to help us understand the greatness of the task that we are about here — in Catholic liberal education.

There is an ancient anecdote about three stone masons, who, centuries ago, were contracted to build one of the great cathedrals of Europe. They were working side by side in the early stages of the construction of the cathedral. All three were placing the lines of mortar on the cut stones and the bricks. The first stone mason was asked, “What are you doing here?” He said: “I’m putting my mortar on these cut stones.” The second was asked the same question, “What are you doing?” And he said, “I’m building a wall.” The third, in answering the same question, said, “I am building a great cathedral to the glory of God.” All three in this ancient anecdote were doing the same thing, but only one understood the greatness of his mission.

We need to have that same perspective of what we are about; to recognize the magnitude of this adventure. And the Holy Spirit helps us to realize that, even in the midst of preparing a prop for Euclid, or Ptolemy, or worse … Descartes. It’s all a part of the glorious work of what we are about here, in this incalculably great mission. What this knowledge brings to us is a sense of the importance of everything we do, because how we do anything is how we do everything.

In the Gospel today, Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit. Why does He rejoice in the Holy Spirit? He rejoices in the marvelous designs of God because he can see how the world couldn’t capture the depths of God’s plan, but the humble, and the children did. And that this is God’s gracious will, to hide and to reveal. Blessed are our eyes that are able to see the marvelous working of His providence and understand what we are about, to relish it — and this changes everything.

So, put it this way. We could approach what we are about by saying things like: “I’ve got to do my Euclid homework; I’ve got to study for finals, I’ve got write my Senior Thesis.” What I think the Lord wants us to do, though, is to fall more in love with this task of encountering His wisdom, His truth, and contemplating it — what we’re about for four years here, and what St. Paul speaks about in the second reading today. He says, “Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us.” St. John of the Cross says, “We attain from God as much as we hope for from Him.” The measure of God’s blessing is not our merits; it’s our hope, it’s our trust in Him.

I think that was true from my dear dad. He hoped with a kind of certainty that God would bring a Thomas Aquinas College, East Coast, into existence — and that hope was realized. So this Holy Spirit that pours hope and love into our hearts, we ask Him to come and fill us, to enlighten our minds and to fill our hearts with love.

Just one last thought: From the superior of the Jesuits from many years ago — and I think it’s especially to be directed to those who might say that Catholic liberal education is not worth it — it’s worth it, it’s worth it, it’s worth it. Let us fall in love with this sacred mission we are about.

To quote Father Arrupe:

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, That is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

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