University Advent Mass 2012

It never stops amazing me—how uncanny the readings for the Mass reflect the rhythm of our lives. Think of the words we heard this evening, as we prepare for the next two weeks of final exams and papers:

• “…take off your robe of mourning and misery…..”
• “…although they go forth weeping….” and
• “…those who sow in tears….”

These words capture a bit of what might be going on in our lives.

But then of course, there are the other words that accompany them and capture the promise of our faith:

• that we “shall come back rejoicing….”
• “….filled with joy….” and
• We will “put on the splendor of glory from God forever.”

The promise is captured so beautifully in the prayer we heard tonight from Paul to the Philippians, a prayer that resonates so much with this moment in the life of our community:

“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it….”

We began a “good work” just about fifteen weeks ago when we began this Fall semester. We now face the anxieties of bringing closure to the assignments that will conclude the work of this semester. But we need to remember that long after you complete your exams, experiments, and papers, long after your professors submit and post your grades, long after you bring closure to your work of the Fall 2012 Semester, this work “will continue”—“in you.”

There is good work going on within us and around us throughout all of our days here on this Hilltop. We can be distracted by the intensity and busyness of the incredibly packed days that characterize life on the Hilltop. In moments like this, we take just a moment for reflection, to listen to the Word, and to consider the “good work” that is on-going, work that “continues” within and around us.

For the University, one aspect of this “good work” is captured in our motto, the Latin words right there on our shield—Utraque Unum—“both into one”—reflecting an awareness and a commitment to the work of integration, of reconciliation. Part of what might best be described as a “Georgetown Project”—grounded in a profound respect for the pluralism of our community, is the work of bringing together ideas, concepts, categories, faiths and traditions, in tension:

• reason and faith
• the humanities and the sciences
• Christianity and Judaism
• Christianity and Islam

On this stage just a few weeks ago, Father John O’Malley, in his speech commemorating the 50^th Anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, identified the tension within our faith between Proclamation—proclaiming the Word—and Dialogue—an open engagement with those who don’t share our faith.

Part of the work taking place all around us, work that “continues,” is this work grounded in our motto—the work of engaging the tensions and seeking an integration, a reconciliation.

And there is always the work going on within each of you. This is our work—work within our selves and work within this community.

I came across a perfect description of our work here in this University community. The words are those of the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, David Lang, describing what is involved in composing new music:

“If the only point of listening to music is to be in the presence of greatness then it becomes difficult to listen to music as it is being made: most music in any period is not great. What it is, however, is raw, new, fresh, untried, unstable and calamitously unsteady on its feet. The present is always a mess of wildly competing ideas and trends and fashions, a whirlwind blowing in many directions at once. Whether listeners care to see it or not we are all always inside the whirlwind and for some of us that’s the most exciting place to be. It is impossible to tell while we are in it if it will lead us someplace we might want to go.”

In our own ways, each of us is making new music. It is “raw, new, fresh, untried, unstable…unsteady.”

We may at any moment be a “mess of wildly competing ideas and trends and fashions.”

We may be a “whirlwind blowing in many directions at once.”

But we also know, through this shared life together we have here on this Hilltop, that this is “the most exciting place to be.”

As we work our ways through these next days and bring closure to this semester, know that we are not alone—we have each other, and remember the promise we heard tonight—that we are being led by a God “in joy, by the light of his glory, with mercy and justice for company.”

The blessings of this Advent Season and the joy of Christmas to you all.