Cardinal praises future Catholic educators

The following is the homily delivered by Cardinal Justin Rigali at the July 23 “Missioning” Mass for graduates of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education Program. Graduates make a commitment to teach in one of the Catholic schools across the nation.

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,
What a joy to be present with you in this place and on this occasion!
I know how much this Basilica of the Sacred Heart means to Notre Dame and to its students, faculty, administration and alumni. In a personal way, I know what this Basilica of the Sacred Heart meant to my brother, Paul, who was married here years ago while he was a student at this university.
The occasion moreover that brings us together is this Mass for your missioning as young teachers of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education. Notre Dame certainly fulfills a splendid role in providing teachers for Catholic schools throughout the United States and also for offering a model of Catholic teacher preparation for other Catholic universities in our country.
Today, we gather at a moment when the Church sends you out to share in a teaching mission that is her own but that comes from the Lord. How grateful we are that this Alliance exists and benefits so many in Catholic education, both the leaders and the students themselves.
There is a remarkable text in the Second Vatican Council that comes to my mind at this time. It is found in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. It reads: "We are witnesses of the birth of a new humanism, one in which man is defined first of all by his responsibilities toward his brothers and sisters and toward history" (Gaudium et Spes, 55).
This missioning ceremony today evokes an understanding, which is present in so many of you, of your great responsibility toward your brothers and sisters and toward history.
During this Eucharist, we are celebrating a Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this great Basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart. And it is in this context that your missioning is taking place. This is indeed a beautiful context in which to reflect on your important calling as Catholic teachers.
From a human standpoint, the Heart of Christ is regarded as a symbol of His love for His Father and for us. It is, however, much more than that. It is the natural sign of His human life – a life that Jesus shares with us.
Jesus is alive because his Heart beats. The living Heart of Christ signifies a humanity that is not only alive but united to the person of the Word of God, who is life itself.
We know that in God life and love are identical, and so the human Heart of Jesus, the Son of God, is the sign of both his life and his love. That love is eternal, divine, human, tender, forgiving and compassionate. It is merciful love. It is mercy.
What then is mercy? Mercy is God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, but love in the face of sin and weakness; actually it is love in the face of every need.
One of the great needs of God’s people is Catholic education, because in Catholic education the person of Jesus Christ is presented, together with his uplifting Gospel of life and love, together with all the exigencies of His plan for the human community, and for realizing the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.
In the context of the mystery of Christ’s love – His Sacred Heart – we can grasp the full importance of this missioning ceremony and the great dignity of your calling as Catholic teachers.
The Second Vatican Council helps us so much to understand ourselves in relation to Christ. It teaches us that "only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For . . . by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, Christ, the new Adam, fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear" (Gaudium et Spes, 22).
Precisely because our example is Christ, we look to Christ to understand ourselves and our mission. What Vatican II teaches us about a new humanism and our responsibility to our brothers and sisters and to history is ever so more meaningful to us because of Christ’s example.
In the Gospel that we just heard proclaimed we see that Jesus, the Incarnate Word is all about self-giving, about laying down His life for others. Five times in the Gospel today, Jesus speaks about laying down His life.
He explains that He has the power to do this, and that He exercises this power. He even goes so far as to say that this is why the Father loves Him because He lays down His life for His flock.
Does this not help us to grasp the concept of Vatican II about the meaning of each human individual as being defined by reason of his or her responsibility to others? The mystery of Jesus, the Incarnate Word, exercising His power and fulfilling the will of His Father by laying down His life, clarifies so much who we are meant to be in relation to others.
Our mission of service is such a real part of our identity. Your mission, dear friends, is so much a part of who you are, of who you are called to be in Christ. To lay down your life in service, as Jesus did, means to enter into the mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to be loved by His Father.
Your mission of Catholic education awaits you. Your response to an urgent need of so many young people in our country gives you the opportunity to exercise love and to find human fulfillment as you live your identity as spelled out by Vatican II and the Gospel of Christ.
It is fascinating to reflect on your identity in terms of your responsibility to others and in terms of a response of love on your part to God, who in Jesus Christ has given you life, salvation and so many good things.
The words of St. John this morning remind us that we love God because He has first loved us. But then St. John makes that giant leap that underlies all sacred humanism when he says: "Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also must love one another" (1 Jn 4:11).
Your service in Catholic education finds its motivation in your responding to God’s love. It requires sacrifice.
You know in advance that Catholic schools cannot compete financially with public schools, and this realism is part of your acceptance and your sacrifice.
But above all you know that the scope and content of Catholic education are something that you passionately want to share with your brothers and sisters.
It is exhilarating to reflect on the fact that Vatican II explicitly includes within the aim of Catholic education the need to ensure that the baptized are introduced into the mystery of salvation, that they grow in their consciousness of the gift of faith, that they learn to adore God the Father through liturgical worship, that they are prepared to live lives of justice and holiness, and that they contribute to the increase of the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. Gravissimum Educationis, 2).
What a contribution! What a mission! What a splendid new humanism is motivated by Christ’s love and the entire mystery of the Incarnate Word, and is so visible in your lives!
Finally, the Second Vatican Council offers you, dear friends, words of great encouragement and deep challenge as it says: "We can justly consider that the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping" (Gaudium et Spes, 31). How important it is for you to do this! How exhilarating! How fulfilling! How consonant with the Gospel of Christ!
The future of humanity truly passes through the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in your response to this love so many young people will find life and hope. And in your self-giving, your particular service to your brothers and sisters, you yourselves will discover with Vatican II new dimensions of your own Catholic identity, ecclesial mission, and personal vocation, to which you are called by our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.