My friends, we are not alone. Te world is lost or adriſt in effect. Have we lost sight of God? How can we tell if we have? Like our Greek an- cestors, we insist on making God man-like instead of man, God-like. We attach human variableness to a God liable to all sorts of un-God- like characteristics and emotions. We are transfixed by body and make perfection something molded out of Gold’s gym instead of from the highest sense of Love. We allow Truth or God to be relative – your truth and my truth and his truth, my god, your god, his god. What ensues is a battle – even war – over which truth or which god is better, as opposed to an effort to understand that my truth and your truth, my sense of God and your sense of God, all stem from the same source - one God and the brotherhood of man. Humanism and relative-ism are harbingers that we have the emphasis on the wrong syllable, the cart before the horse – the harbingers that we have turned our backs on God as the one and only Cause… or that we can be separated from God.
I know that God has become very politically incorrect. We can quibble over terminology, but I don’t think one of you would defend the no- tion of more than one God. God knows, religionist and philosophers have been quibbling for centuries. We can refer to Cause or Truth or Love or Mind (as our Greek ancestors did) or Allah or Yahweh. But if there is one God or Cause, then there must be one effect and it be- hooves us to understand not only that effect but its Cause as well.
In your reflections that I collected on the spiritual dimension of life, you got an A on a willingness to understand loving your neighbor and not such a good grade on loving God. In fact none of you even men- tioned God. Te good news is that you are on the right track with em- phasis on loving your neighbor. Your replay of moral qualities proved this with… and I quote “open-hearted, moral, happy, being a good citi- zen, developing a sense of self, love, honesty, doing the right thing, nur- turing.” But, the question that I asked in the beginning – the question that I leave with you as you depart these halls – as I depart from these halls - is how do we become morally better? How do we progress mor- ally? Tink about it, how can we practice unconditional forgiveness without understanding the infinite allness of Love itself ? How do we practice more honorable behavior without trying to understand Truth itself ? Ask yourself, “Am I living the life that approaches the Supreme Good?” What is the supreme good but God? Literally, you can’t love your neighbor better without loving God most.
Tis school is supported by two gigantic pillars – Chapel and the Honor Code. Both help us understand and practice the two great commandments. Both are not confined to St. Anne’s-Belfield School. Tey are engrained in your education here, and I sincerely hope they serve you wherever you are headed.
Te Psalmist said, “Acquaint now yourself with Him (God) and be at peace.” God knows we need peace in this world. We need peace in this community. And I look to you to make this world a better place. I am venturing out myself – excited and scared – looking for new op- portunities to put into practice what I understand of God. I have been through too much not to utter this confidently: God loves you and me more than you can possibly imagine. I am proud of what you have done and stand for in this community. Answer my question, “Are you living the life that approaches the supreme good?” with a hearty YES. Seek to love God most and you will love your fellow man more. God bless you all. Adios.
ST. ANNE’S-BELFIELD SCHOOL – 11
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