Dear Graduates, Families, and Friends,
I am delighted to be with all of you today to celebrate the accomplishments of these graduating seniors and graduate students. Congratulations! You are well prepared to go out and be a light to the world!
I want to leave you today with two charges: always pursue the Truth, and always do everything with the greatest love you can muster.
It is the entire purpose and meaning of a University – its faculty, staff, and students – to give herself tirelessly to the pursuit of the Truth. And I have been reflecting on this truth because it was exactly 100 years ago this year, in 1926, that our alumnus, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, joined our faculty and began teaching philosophy and theology here at The Catholic University of America. As you all know, he will be beatified this September in St Louis.
It was his passion for pursuing the Truth personally and for transmitting Truth to his students that made Sheen into the saintly and remarkable person he became.
And what were some of those most important truths?
First, that each and every one of us has been created by God for all eternity to know, to love, and to serve Him. As a professor, a preacher, and a TV personality, Sheen declared to everyone: You are infinitely loved by God, no matter what you do. God loves you exactly the way He made you. With all of your talents and abilities, and gifts, and yes with your weaknesses and frailties. And nothing you ever do in your life will change that.
This should be an enormous source of joy for each of us.
Another critically important truth is that God asks you to love Him back. And the only way to do that is to strive your entire life to know Him and what He has done for you. That despite your sins and shortcomings, He loves you and wants to redeem you. And all we must do is ask Him for that.
He also wants you to love others. To love your classmates and colleagues here at Catholic University, to love strangers, to love the poor, the migrant, those in prison – to love each and every person on this planet whether you know them or not.
But this is not easy, is it? It is easy to love your family and friends (most of the time anyway). But it is harder to love the stranger, the criminal, the person who persecutes you or does harm to you.
As you commence today the next part of your journey, I want you to carry this promise with you: You will be far happier if you believe in God and seek to know, love, and serve Him better and better each day than if you do not.
The more you learn to love everyone, to authentically care for your neighbor and for everyone with whom you come into contact, the happier, the more joyful you will be. This has been proven beyond any shadow of a doubt in the lives of countless saints in every era, and confirmed even by social scientists today.
And to get specific: You will be happier if you give yourself to others either in the vocation of marriage and family or in the vocation of consecrated life, than if you choose neither of these things.
My dear graduates, what I desire for you more than anything else is that you lead fulfilling, happy lives.
So again my charge to you is that you pursue the Truth with a capital "T" with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength, and that you love with a 1 Corinthians love everyone you encounter in your life.
Congratulations, Class of 2026, and may God bless you.
