Even a Tiny Flame Lifts the Heavy Lid of Night

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on Sunday, August 25, 2002, at Christendom College in Front Royal, at the Mass for the opening of the academic year.

It is with great joy that I join the Christendom College family today to celebrate with you the 25th anniversary of the founding of this grace-filled institution, and to open the 2002-2003 academic year. In 1977, a small group of lay men and women gathered together to found an institute of higher learning that would be grounded in traditional Catholic thought and teaching. This proposed college was their response to a vacuum in higher education, which occurred as a result of a scientific rationalism that came to dominate academic endeavor. This small, but determined group of lay people, through the establishment of Christendom College, founded an institute of higher learning that is unabashedly faithful to the Church’s Magisterium, is committed to reinstating the two millennia of Catholic academic teaching and thought that has been cast aside by many of today’s colleges and universities, and is determined to educate and form young men and women to be apostles of the third Christian millennium. Indeed, how similar this small lay group was to those in the Upper Room!

The foundation has been laid, and enrollment continues to increase here at Christendom College. What will be our future? We are experiencing a time of great trial in the Church, and a good path can be found in the words of Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II to the youth of the world in Toronto. "Even a tiny flame lifts the heavy lid of night. How much more light will you make, all together, if you bond as one in the communion of the Church! If you love Jesus, love the Church! Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members. The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame. But think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good! There are many priests, seminarians and consecrated person here today; be close to them and support them! And if, in the depths of your hearts, you feel the same call to the priesthood or consecrated life, do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the Cross! At difficult moments in the Church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit … Although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young. You are our hope … Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son" (WYD 2002, 7/28/02).

As students, faculty and staff of Christendom College, your mission is to become these "tiny flames [that] lift the heavy lid of night." In our first reading, we heard that: "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled … Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit … [and] the Spirit enabled them to proclaim." It is the Holy Spirit who lights the fire within each of us, and causes us to become lights to the world, and to proclaim the Gospel of truth, life and love.

From the moment we were baptized, the life of God, divine grace, began to grow and work within us. This life of God works to bring us to the fulfillment of all that God has created us to be. He has a plan for each one of our lives, and our second reading speaks to us of this reality. "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." As you engage in the academic pursuit of the various disciplines offered here and allow yourselves to be formed as authentic disciples of Jesus Christ, you must do so within the context of constant prayer. You must ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the special gifts which He has given to you. In prayer, draw close to this Advocate and Counselor given to us by Jesus to lead and direct us in the ways of holiness so that you may discover the gifts and talents you have received for your own benefit, for the benefit of the Body of Christ, the Church, and the entire world.

Yes, the entire world! Those gathered in the Upper Room on Pentecost were not to remain there. The gift of the Holy Spirit and the various particular gifts which the Spirit manifests in different individuals are meant for your benefit and the benefit of others. We are called to become holy, and in doing so to become lights to the world. In order to fulfill this mission, we must cultivate an intimate relationship with God — our Creator, our Savior and our Sanctifier. When we meditate on the sacred Scriptures, Jesus comes to us, speaks to us, and like to those in the Upper Room says to us: "Peace be with you." Through a dynamic sacramental life, we gradually overcome our sinful fallen nature, and grow in the image and likeness of God. "Holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit," as our Holy Father reminds us.

Christendom College was founded 25 years ago to enable young men and women to be formed in the teachings of Jesus Christ so that they could grow in holiness and, therefore, build the Kingdom of God on earth. In your education here at Christendom, you have been given a great gift — utilize it! Let Christendom College come to be known to the ends of the earth because of the example of your holy and enthusiastic lives. Allow yourselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and allow Him to use you, as He did those first disciples in the Upper Room, to evangelize the world, bringing all to the loving embrace of the Father through His Son Jesus Christ in the power of this same Holy Spirit. Dear members of the administration, faculty and staff, dear students, may God continue this good work He has begun in each of you, and in this institution for higher Catholic learning: Christendom College to the glory of the Father and for the salvation of the world! Amen.

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