It has been twenty three years since I stood at this podium as Principal of Alemany High School. The eight years I served in this capacity were most rewarding for me because of the fine administration and faculty with whom I worked—several of whom will be honored this afternoon; the outstanding students who attended the school, not the least of whom is Frank Ferry who was elected twice as student body president; and the tremendous support from the parents. This morning my heart is filled with warm sentiments as I return to address this wonderful graduating class of 2008.
Recently a professor of Theology at Notre Dame University wrote about students coming to him to discuss their crises of faith. Some had difficulty accepting doctrinal points in the Church’s teaching; others could not accept particular moral teachings. Instead of launching into an intellectual discussion he would ask them if they wanted to be close to God as a follower of Jesus in their lives. He asked them to go and pray about this and then he would talk with them about their questions.
The teachings of the Church are very important but they are not an ideology to which one subscribes. The teachings of the Church exist to nourish us in our faith. What is central in life is to love God and to know that God loves each of us and that by God’s design each of us has an important work to do in the course of our journey.
Everyone wants to be happy in life, but so many people pursue it in the wrong way. They go after happiness for its own sake. They think they will be happy if they have a successful career. They think they will be happy if they make lots of money. They think they will be happy if they get all the pleasures they desire.
Today we live in a culture of what we call “negotiation.” People negotiate what is going to make up their lives, their friends, their work, their leisure, their morals, their values. They think that can negotiate what will make them happy. People think they can control every aspect of their lives to the degree that they can create their own happiness.
Recently in the Sunday supplement there was an article about Robert Downey, Jr., a 43 year old actor who had been caught up in a ruinous cycle of drug addiction, imprisonment and public disgrace. The article was entitled “I Rose from the Ashes.” This is what he said: “I used to be so convinced that happiness was the goal, yet all those years I was chasing after it, I was unhappy in the pursuit. Maybe the goal should really be a life that values honor, duty, good work, friends and family.
I think he is right. If you spend your life running after happiness you will never find it.
There is a wonderful Cardinal, now in his 80’s, a renowned theologian named Avery Dulles. His father was John Foster Dulles the Secretary of State under President Dwight Eisenhower. As a young man he converted to Catholicism, much to the dismay of his family. In his final lecture this past April 1st, at Fordham University, he said:
“Happiness, I gradually came to see, is the reward given for holding fast to what is truly good and important.”
You do not find happiness by pursuing happiness: happiness comes when you spend your lives doing what is truly good and important. Everyone exits for a reason, for a purpose, in the plan of God. You have been given gifts, you have been given talents to do what is truly good. The Sacred Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, reveal to us the path to happiness. To do good is to build a right relationship with God; to do good is to create right relationships with others; to do good is to enjoy a right relationship with yourself; to do good is to establish a caring relationship with the earth (God’s creation).
What is important is found in the gospel. Ghandi read the Sermon on the Mount every day. Happy are those who hunger for justice. Happy are the merciful. Happy are those who work for peace.
Cardinal Dulles further said: “The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, I feel sure, is the discovery of great price, the treasure hidden in the field, the Lord Jesus Himself.”
Mother Theresa put it this way: “God does not call us to do great things but to do small things with great love.”
Pope Paul VI said it this way: “If you want peace, work for justice.”
If you want to be happy, be close to God as a follower of Jesus Christ. Do what is truly good and important. And may I conclude by saying that the Holy Spirit will give you the wisdom, the courage and the strength to live your lives for God in Christ Jesus.
Bishop Stephen Blaire