HOMILY FOR 1978 AND 1988 REUNION
Tomorrow, the Church will celebrate the feast of the birth of John the Baptist. In the Christian story, we remember that the appearance of John the Baptist was the “tipping point,” for the whole phenomenon of Christianity, because it was John the Baptist who was the one first to identify Jesus as both the Savior of the world and the axis upon which all of human history turns. In a sense, every Christian should identify with John Baptist because, in virtue of our baptism, each of us is called to point to Jesus present in our midst and to affirm that Jesus is the One around which our lives orbit. In a real sense, each of us is invited to be a tipping point.
What does that look like in today’s world? It seems to me that what our world needs today is far more complicated and far more urgent than it was in 1978 or 1988. Not so much that times were simpler then, but that we were not as aware then, as we are now, of the world’s sadness and the world’s brokenness; nor were we as responsible then, as we are now, for the renewal of the world in meaning, purpose and even beauty.
A psychologist recently used a word to describe the age in which we live. He called our culture today “counter-human,” not just inhuman or sub-human, but counter-human, the antithesis of what we are meant to be. He pointed to the world’s anger and division and its superficiality and cited as evidence three undeniable effects of counter-humanity: the lack of a vocabulary to describe one’s feelings, the inability to express sincere empathy, and the increased dulling of conscience which blurs the difference between right and wrong. It is becoming more and more difficult for our young people to distinguish between mild inconvenience and white-hot rage and, thus, we see a marked increase in violence against persons, both in public and in schools. A lack of empathy is seen in the inability to put oneself in the shoes of another and feel what it is like to be deemed invisible or to be stigmatized or brutalized or marginalized. And, of course, the abandonment of the conscience has made truth negotiable, a race to determine whose narrative about reality is more palatable and more convincing or which narrative can be imposed with the most power or with the loudest voices. Our public discourse has been reduced to accusing those with whom we disagree of being, first, ignorant, then stupid and then, lastly, evil.
No matter when we attended Loyola, beyond the academics, the athletics and extracurricular programs, we were invited into a worldview that is very different than one we find ourselves submerged in today. Since Loyola’s philosophy and method stressed love, love for everyone without exception, and service, service of a gospel of love and of joy and of mercy, Loyola alumni have to feel uncomfortable with so much of what has been happening to the world’s soul over the last many years. The anger and the division we encounter daily are really masks which attempt to cover over an actual despair that we will ever be able to correct our course. On an unconscious level, we intuit the wisdom from the old Chinese proverb: “If we don’t change direction, we will end up where we are going.” Changing direction, though, we conclude, may be ultimately futile or even impossible.
And so, tonight, because this is a family reunion, you will remember. You will bring to mind the times when you hoped that life would always be golden and that fate would always be kind. You will laugh again at your adolescent foibles and tell tall tales of what you think you got away with. You will remember once again excellent teachers and role models, and you will mourn once more cherished classmates who died too young. And you will also share what is beautiful and hopeful about your lives now, the tipping points about the ones you love and the horizons toward which you hope to sail.
And all of that is what reunions are for.
But let me invite you to think about one more thing: how you yourself are a tipping point for others in this world. How the heroism of John the Baptist revealed Jesus to the world and how you are called to do precisely that in all the ways you are able to in all the days you have left on this earth. How, in your life can you bring compassion, justice and love into the world?
Being true to Loyola means that we believe we are called to live, not for our resume but for our eulogy, not for ourselves alone, but for all of our sisters and brothers, without exception, that we should pursue our endeavors and relationships, not primarily for success but for significance.
As we reunite tonight, let us also recommit tonight: let us continue to encourage and pray for one another so that we can be tipping points for the world which needs us now more than ever.
Amen.