From Archbishop Donoghue

School Mass for Honor Students

St. Pius X High School

September 23, 2003

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Dear Friends in Christ,

I am very happy to be with you here today as we "honor" our honor students and their parents. There are a number of points that need to be addressed on such a day, and I hope you will bear with me, as I try to give everyone and every point their just due.

The first point has to do with leadership. It is an unfortunate thing in today's society, that, in many ways, we want everyone to be the same - and more than that, even if people are not the same, we want everyone to be treated the same.

Sometimes this is good. When we have a law, we want everyone to have that law applied to them in the same way it is to anyone else - or when we have some kind of sponsored or funded opportunity, like scholarships for example, we want that opportunity to be equally available to everyone who needs it. That kind of equality, that kind of sameness is very good.

But another kind is not. It is a fact of human nature, that some people are born to lead and others to follow. Some people are born with better skills at communicating - some people are born with better abilities to argue and to persuade. That is not to say that anyone can't improve themselves by application and study. But the fact remains, that sometimes, one person's gifts of leadership are better than someone else's. This doesn't mean that the follower is inferior to the leader, or that the leader is somehow better than the follower. In nature, things exist to complement one another. A vacuum exits to be filled - the freshness of rain exists to balance the heat of the sun - men and women are made for one another, not against one another, and by understanding how they complement one another, men and women are able to make the species continue, to propagate, to have children, to be truly productive.

In the same way, here in school, we have leaders, we have good students, and some of them will excel - they will be the best. If this excellence is pursued and achieved to show power or to show superiority, then it means nothing, and is usually achieved at the price of friendship. No one likes a winner who brags or asserts their superiority.

But if excellence is natural, if it comes because a person is sincere in doing his or her best, and if they never hesitate to help others, then excellence is allowed to be what it really is - a manifestation, a living example of love - of that kind of love we all believe in - that kind of love the Lord Jesus taught us - the love of friend for friends, and not master for slaves.

So I say to this student body, love those around you who achieve excellence, who do their best, because what they are showing is not just how good they are, but how good God is to all of us, and how good we can all be. And be their friends - give them the opportunity of helping you - of sharing their excellence with you. For learning from others is the best way of all to learn the love that others have, and to give love yourself.

My second point has to do with parents - all parents, and not just the parents of honor students. In many ways it is the same story - we see today, in those who have achieved, what can happen when there is a partnership between parents and children regarding school work, and regarding the disciplines that are necessary to achieve good schoolwork, and good results.

But this partnership must begin at home - and by this, I mean it must begin with parents. In the school of life, mothers and fathers have already attained some very important knowledge that young people in high school have only just begun to think about and absorb. Or perhaps a better way to put it would be to say, that parents already see certain connections, certain relationships, that are necessary to have, when the time comes to assume family and parental responsibility. Your children look for, and see these things in you, even if they don't yet know exactly what to call them.

Perhaps the most important one is the patience that you must have with children - the willingness to put aside your work, your worries, your preoccupations and hobbies, in order to take the time to reassure children about their present and their future. The first reading talks about wisdom, and one of the verses says, "He who keeps vigil for wisdom, shall quickly be free from care…" What this means, is that when you stop to help your child, whether the lesson is one from the text book, or one from the book of life, you are going a long way towards helping your child have what he or she will need for the future. And, God willing, you are also teaching that child what they might have to do, in order one day, to be a help to you.

The parent-child exchange is not a one-way street - everyone is meant to be bettered when love is given, and it is always given in two directions. Parents, if your child is one of those being honored today - then congratulations to you. But to all parents, this word of advice must be said - give your children whatever time they need. For the answer is not necessarily in you knowing the right answer - but it might very well be, finding the right answer, in cooperation with your children.

Finally today, we need to say a few things about "honor" itself, for the meaning of today is how we are all bound together by this concept.

What is honor? Well, used as a verb, it is easy enough to say that when we honor someone, we pay them respect, we recognize their achievement, and with the true kind of humility that makes us better, we admit that they are perhaps better at some things than we are. Those are the things I have already been talking about.

But what is "honor" itself, and I mean, the noun, not the verb.

Some might say that honor is being true to yourself. But I don't really agree with this, because it is not so hard to lie to yourself - some people do it every day, and some people make it a life's habit.

I think honor is being true to what you say - I think honor is that quality that exists when your actions are in synch with your words - and I think honor is a public thing, a public trust - the virtue which lets people count on you to be the person you say you are .

And for those who wish to be wise, that means being the person that Jesus Christ wants us to be , pure and simple: a person who is good, who doesn't hurt other people on purpose, who does not lie or steal, and who understands that to have love, you must give love.

These statements sound simple enough, but in your lives, are they really that simple, that easy? Do you always turn your back on what is bad, and say no to bad activities, no matter how tempting they are? Do you always remember not to say malicious things about people who are different from you and your friends, no matter how funny or odd you make think they are? Do you always do all your work yourself, to the best of your ability, never taking short-cuts, never borrowing from someone else's work, or from someone else's ideas?

Even the smallest slip with regard to these things is enough to damage honor. For honor is that virtue by which we are always - always faithful to what we know to be right, to be good. If you aren't ready to commit yourself to what is good, to what is honest, to what is true, then you are not ready for honor.

And yet, every student here at St. Pius has signed the honor code - a pledge never to plagiarize, never to cheat, never to steal another's work. Maybe you know in your heart, that you haven't yet made that full commitment to honor, to being good, and you went along with the pledge simply because it is required.

If that is so, then I hope you will consider these two things: first, the words from the Book of Wisdom, "Be wise, and you will soon be free from care." It doesn't mean be "street-wise." It means, be wise in the ways of the Lord, be wise in acting like Christ - and if you are, you will soon be free from worry, and God will help you take care of the future; and second, remember, as we heard in the Gospel, that Christ can do nothing for you, if you don't believe in His honor . He couldn't help the people in His own home town, because they didn't believe in Him - they didn't believe in His authority, in His teaching - they did not believe He was who He said He was. And it is still true, that Christ cannot help you, if you don't believe in Him - if you don't believe that He can keep His word when He gives it to you - if you don't believe that He is honorable.

But I say, honor Christ, believe Him, and become like Him. And I say it to everyone: to myself, to those who are being recognized today for their excellence, to those who have a long way to go on the road of academic skills, to good and successful parents, and to parents who need to do some serious adjusting in their priorities schedules.

I say, honor Christ, because if we trust Him, if we believe the Lord's word and ask for His help, then He will lend us a part of His own honor, and that will be enough to make us do what is right and good. We might not be as excellent as someone else, we might not catch the eye of the public, and we might not win riches, power and influence - but we will become right and good, and we will walk on the path to a life free from guilt, worry and woe.

Honor Christ, and that will be enough, and all that any of us will ever really need.

God bless you, God bless St. Pius X High School, and God send us His Holy Spirit, to help us do His will, and to help us be, His honorable people on earth.

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