“Spreading Your Wings”

Baccalaureate Mass at Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine (Doylestown, PA)

2 June 2007

I’m honored to be with you today to share in your Baccalaureate & Graduation, and I thank you for the invitation. It’s been thirty years since I took part in one of these, but if I remember correctly, there should be a few parties on this occasion! And that reminds me of a graduation story from California.

There a young Valley girl was cruising along the coast in her convertible after her party. She came to a sharp curve which she couldn’t negotiate, and went flying off the side. As the convertible plummeted below her, she managed to reach out and grab onto a single branch extending from the rocks. Immediately she screamed, “help!” But no response. “Help,” she cried again, but there was silence on the lonely road above.

Finally, she yelled out, “can anybody hear me?” And a voice from the clouds answered, “Yes.” “Can you help me?” she yelled back. “Of course I can ... I’m God” the voice bellowed. “So, just let go.” A minute or two went by, and the girl looked up and yelled ... “can anybody else hear me?”

Now I know that scenario is unlikely to play out for any of you who are very soon-to-be high school graduates, and not just because I assume you are more sensible drivers. Rather, it’s because today you are “spreading your wings” ... so you could fly.

I’m intrigued by this as your choice of a theme for this day and so I’d like to explore with you this idea of “spreading our wings.” Don’t worry, this won’t be a full-fledged lesson in aviation. Let’s just consider three observations, in connection to the biblical readings you have just heard, and what consequences these may hold for you as you are graduated. -2-

Picture a bird in flight. It spreads its wings. It soars aloft. It floats freely and circles high above. At some point it lands again. And the cycle begins anew. Seeing this natural wonder, or even imagining it, is both fascinating, as we ponder how it happens, and endearing, as we wish we could do the same.

That leads to my first question: what makes winged flight possible? After all, neither you nor I can just flap our arms and fly away, no matter how hard we might try. We simply aren’t made that way. Nevertheless, we do share something in common with these winged creatures. What makes their flight possible is not just wings, but the air beneath them. It is upon these currents that are given in nature that they glide. So, too, for each of you. Wind surrounds the birds; air breathes within you. Wind, air, breath … these are all the same word, in biblical terms, for what we know as the Spirit.

In today’s first reading, Isaiah (61:1-3) speaks joyously about this “spirit of the Lord God.” This Spirit enables and empowers him to do what he does: to prophesy and to proclaim the good news of deliverance and salvation to those who will listen.

Even if you can’t fly like a bird, or preach like a prophet, still you share that same Spirit of the Lord God, the Spirit that makes you to be alive. That Spirit breathing in you is a gift – the gift of Life – which is yours to make the most of. Give thanks for it, especially to your parents. Take care of it, today and every day ahead of you. Protect it, defend it, respect it – for without this gift of Life none of us would be here today.

Back to the birds, for a second consideration. Have you ever noticed that they don’t get lost? And they don’t have MapQuest or a GPS system! How is that they always seem to find their way, even when they head far South for the winter? Apparently they have a built-in homing device.

We, too, have the means for never getting lost in life. Jesus makes this quite clear in today’s Gospel reading (John 15:9-17) when he says: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love … so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” In today’s world, that’s a very big “if.” Our culture tends think that “commandments” are impositions, decisions that somebody else makes for us (like faculty or a principal!), simply arbitrary rules that aim at preventing us from doing what we think or what we want. Today, as you spread your wings, you may be thinking that now you are free to fly on your own. -3-

What you will learn, though, if you haven’t already, is that you will only really be free when you obey, when you make choices that are truly good. Thou shalt not lie or steal or kill ... Turn the other cheek; give to those in need; love one another. Yes, these are things we are “told to” do, things we “have to” do. That’s why they’re called “commandments” and not “suggestions”! But these are also things – the only things, really – that make us happy in the long run. Every single day there will be things you have to do – welcome to life! So, choose wisely who you will listen to and what ideas you will follow. Keep the ones that Jesus tells us, and you can be sure that, like the birds, you will never get lost. You will always find your way, because you will forever be His friends.

On their way, though, even birds have to eat! And to do that, they have to return to the ground, where they manage to catch a critter or find a worm. Majestic as their flight may be, they always have to come back to earth in order to survive. This is our third and final observations. Birds in flight spread their wings and soar, but they find their food on the ground below.

As you spread your wings and fly to new places, remember that your food, your nourishment, your survival is to be found here below – in your family, your friends, and most of all, your God. Especially here, in Church, you will find the food that will nourish your lives forever. And you don’t have to scratch or claw for it! The Eucharist – the real presence of God, in the body and blood of his Son, through the power of the Spirit – this is what will sustain you wherever you go.

And that’s why we celebrate Mass on this, your special day. So that you might listen to that divine voice and let go of any fears you may have. So that you might spread your spiritual wings and begin a new chapter of your lives. So that you might, as Paul says to the Ephesians (3:14-21), “comprehend … the breadth and length and height and depth” of the horizons of eternity that lay before you.

So that you, as graduates of Villa Joseph Marie High School in the Class of 2007, might learn and grow and live ...

+ May God Be Blessed +

REV. THOMAS F. DAILEY, O.S.F.S., S.T.D. Professor - Dept. of Philosophy & Theology Director - Salesian Center for Faith & Culture DeSales University (Center Valley, PA)