Fr. Murray’s Homily at the Baccalaureate Mass of the Holy Spirit

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“Remain Faithful to God and Defend the Truth, Come What May” 

by Rev. Gerald E. Murray, J.C.D.
Pastor
St. Joseph’s Church, New York City
Baccalaureate Mass of the Holy Spirit
Commencement 2025
Thomas Aquinas College, New England

“Let anyone who thirsts come to Me and drink” (John 7:37).

Our Divine Savior issued this invitation to the multitudes that came to hear Him speak as He made His way through Galilee and Judea. They were thirsting for knowledge of God’s truth. They came seeking to experience the power of God’s redemption promised by the prophets to the people of Israel, and indeed to all mankind.

Man was created by God to know and to love the truth, the truth that sets us free from ignorance and error, from fear and superstition, from nihilism and despair. Knowing the truth satisfies our yearning to find our proper place in Creation. Loving the truth enables us to live at peace, to live in harmony with God and to fulfill His purposes for us.

Man thirsts for more than water. He thirsts for answers to the inescapable questions we all face: Where did I come from, why am I here, what am I supposed to do during my time on planet Earth, what happens to me when I die? Thirsty souls find those answers in the Church, and especially in those places where the Church’s teaching is faithfully and lovingly handed on.

Four years ago, you, dear members of the Class of 2025, were all smiles when you learned that you had been admitted to Thomas Aquinas College, New England. A great adventure in learning lay ahead of you. A deep and profound immersion in the inheritance of Divine and human wisdom was the mission you embraced when you matriculated in this college named in honor of the Angelic Doctor. A joyful and demanding life of Christian prayer and service would instruct you in the reality of grace. Divine Providence brought you here for a reason. You had four years to experience the goodness of God who satisfies our thirst for union with the One Who made us in His image and redeemed us by becoming a man, like us in all things but sin.

“Be the young people who help to revive and enliven the Catholic Church in the United States, and beyond, simply by doing what the saints have instructed us to do, day in and day out.”

Now, your four years of studies here have come to an end. Yet I assert, with deep respect for your tutors, that your thirst for knowledge has only been partially satisfied. There is so much more to learn. We are all life-long learners who turn to God each day to enlighten us, to teach us the marvels he has revealed. Forty-five years ago, I was a senior at Dartmouth College, located about an hour’s drive north of where we find ourselves today. I distinctly remember walking across the campus after my last examination, feeling a sense of freedom and relief. You may have had the same experience. Now, I thought, I was ready to embark on the road to becoming a priest, an idea l had not entertained when I first arrived in Hanover, New Hampshire. I was grateful to the Good Lord for His call to serve Him at the altar of God.

Dear graduates, you now embark on your chosen path, serving God in your life. The “rivers of living water” of God’s grace will always be with you. It is your great blessing to know that you never walk alone, that you always can count on God’s assistance. Never let go of that conviction, and never resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit to seek holiness as you blaze your trail in life.

In our second reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles (8:1, 4, 14-17), we hear of the “severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem.” The Church has always faced opposition. Yet we also hear that “those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.” Such is the story of the Church in all ages, including our own. Those who attempt to crush the Church end up causing the spread of the Faith through the heroic example of those who remain faithful.

As we gather in worship and prayer today, Mr. Jimmy Lai, an adult Catholic convert baptized by Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, endures unjust confinement in jail as his trial on trumped-up charges drags on and on. The Communist Party of China cannot abide someone they cannot intimidate. From his jail cell, Mr. Lai is an inspired witness to what we should all do: remain faithful to God and defend the truth, come what may.

“You have been blessed with a Catholic education that is hard to find in our world today. Deepen that knowledge and put it to good use.”

Dear graduates, I naturally encourage you to live out your Catholic Faith with determination and serenity. Be the young people who help to revive and enliven the Catholic Church in the United States, and beyond, simply by doing what the saints have instructed us to do, day in and day out. I remember, as if it were today, hearing the great Jesuit, Fr. John Hardon, tell a group of graduate students almost 50 years ago: “You cannot imagine the good you do simply by living out your Catholic Faith.”

Yet I want to add a specific recommendation, meant as an encouragement, to you who have had the privilege of studying at this fine college. My advice: find ways to promote and defend the perennial teaching of the Church through teaching, writing, and speaking. You have been blessed with a Catholic education that is hard to find in our world today. Deepen that knowledge and put it to good use. God will favor you in these endeavors. Many grateful souls will thank you when, God willing, you hear those words spoken to you by the Good Lord: “Come you blessed of my Father, share my life with me.”

Young men and women of the Class of 2025, God has blessed you in so many ways. Turn to Him with gratitude each day, drinking deeply from the waters of divine grace as you live lives pleasing to God, shining the light of Christ in the midst of the darkness that will never overcome it.

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