Mass of the Holy Spirit 2007

We gather today, as one community, to joyfully mark the beginning of the academic year and in thanksgiving for the Holy Spirit—our helper and comforter whose gifts animate our desire to seek the truth…motivate our creativity…and enable us to understand the world, and ourselves, more clearly.

But this month also marks a sorrowful anniversary. Sixty-two years ago, in August, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. Pulitzer Prize Winner John Hersey, in his book, Hiroshima, movingly describes the thousands of individuals desperately fleeing the city’s devastation after the attack. In their panic and fear, they were deaf to the cries of the suffering and dieing in the streets or trapped beneath the rubble.

Hersey, however, goes on to write about those extraordinary individuals who put aside concerns for their own safety and stopped to help.  One such person was Jesuit Father Pedro Aruppe—whose centennial we celebrate this year.  Thirty years later, as Superior General of the entire Jesuit Order, Aruppe wrote that the goal of Jesuit education is “men and women for other persons who will not live exclusively for themselves.”

That is also Georgetown’s mission:  To educate young women and men who will not be deaf to the needs of others…who will resist the call to selfishness and self-gratification…and who will be hear the authentic voice of God that appeals to our better natures.

Of course, it is only through, and with, the gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and respect of the Lord—that we are able to hear that authentic voice of God.   This should not be surprising, for this Spirit—which Ezekiel says exists in all of us—will, according to our reading from Romans, come to aid us in all of our weaknesses…and, as John’s Gospel proclaims, teach us everything we need to know. 

The Holy Spirit specifically calls us to listen closely to God’s authentic voice.  If we do, we will hear one simple message:  To love.  If we do not love, then we squander all the gifts of the Spirit.  As St. Augustine wrote when meditating on the Trinity,

“Other gifts, too, are given by the Holy Spirit, but without love they profit nothing.”

At Georgetown, the spirit of love inspires our community to care for one another; to care for the whole person—body, mind and spirit

The spirit of love inspires our students to be thoughtful, intellectually curious, rigorous and reflective—because they understand that knowledge is not simply an end, but a means to serve others and the common good.

And the spirit of love inspires all of us—in the example of St. Ignatius Loyola—and Pedro Arrupe—to engage in the world to make it a better place. In fact, it requires that social justice issues are never consigned to the shadows of our consciousness. That we view global inequality as the central moral challenge of our lifetime.  That we fight for a global economy that benefits not the few, but the many. That we foster understanding among faiths and cultures while promoting peace and social justice. And that all of us who have the privilege of being part of a community like Georgetown accept responsibility not only for our own development, but for the collective development of the human family. 

As we begin a new academic year, let us ask the Holy Spirit—the spirit of truth, and wisdom, and compassion—to not only open our minds to new ideas and information, but to open our hearts to the spirit of love…to allow us to hear the authentic voice of God…and to grant us the gifts that will help ensure that we are always women and men for others. 

You all have my best wishes for a rewarding and successful school year.