CLASS OF 2011 GRADUATION

JUNE 3, 2011

McLAUGHLIN THEATER FOR PERFORMING ARTS

ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE PREP

 Loving presented by Mr. Sean Kane

Within the halls of CJA, it’s not hard to see love.  The days are filled with teachers and parents working tirelessly to lead our students and sons on a path to fulfillment.  But that’s only 50% of the equation every day. The other 50% is you guys.  And I won’t lie, it’s hard to feel the love some days.  If you have ever demanded a sleepy teenager to sit up on a Friday morning for a vocab quiz, he swears he didn’t know about, you’d know.  I wouldn’t readily say love is the emotion.  I’d liken those moments to the same set of emotions seen in the ring of a bullfight.

However, we have our moments, where love is in the air and one happened very recently.  Once the dust of the school year had slowly started to settle, Mr. Beckley delivered his message on love.  Last Friday, during the final chapel reflection, Mr. Beckley gave an inspired final message to the schoolon the importance of being Loving.  All the boys here will likely remember, “IF YOU LEARN NOTHING ELSE, REMEMBER THIS: LOVE ONE ANOTHER!”  

Like I said, we have our moments, when love is in the air.  Believe it or not, that was one of them.  And while my oratorical style may not match Mr. Beckley’s, my view is no different, because behind the bullfights of a Friday morning, behind the hellfire and brimstone, is the cornerstone:  Love.  Love for another is the only reason this is all possible, after all.

In 2006, I was starting as a senior at Boston College.  I went to New Orleans one year after hurricane Katrina with 20 other volunteers, we stayed in the rectory of Corpus Christi Church.  I need not tell you the impact that week had on me at 21 years old, but I will say that I keep a mass card from that August 2006.  On the front, it quotes first Corinthians, ‘Love is patient, love is kind, love never fails.’  If you have ever been to a single wedding, you know the rest.  This notion of love as something alive became foundational for me.  I realized that love is alive, it is what makes us most human, and it is what makes us Christians.  Without love, we are without vocation, family and, most terrifying, without hope.

That’s why this award is so exceptional.  To be loving isn’t simply caring for your Mother and Father, though that’s a good start.  To be full of love, does not simply mean that one cares deeply for those students immediately around him, or simply to care for those in need.  No, to be loving is something far more enduring.  It is the force we trust to conquer all, what will keep us together, and it’s what the world needs now.  It goes far beyond simply caring.  It enables hope, and happiness. It makes this life worth living.

That’s why this award belongs to a young man, who actually knows the names of 6th graders!  Mr. Smith, your brother does not count.  To a young man whose love is worn as a comic book smile, he has the charisma to match.  His love is spoken through laughter and camaraderie amongst teachers and peers on Friday afternoon sidewalks and seen in his brave intellectual commitment to being open minded and openly expressing interest in soccer, over football!  Jury’s still out on that, Julian.

Though, in giving this award today, Julian, I mean it as an invitation.  Keep love alive in your life.  Live every day with gratitude and humility; seek laughter and service, and life will pour more love into you than you ever thought possible. 

It is my honor to announce the winner of the Grad at Grad award for being Loving to Julian.  Congratulations.