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2009 Message Archive

November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Dear Our Lady of Holy Cross College Community:

We celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in the Mater Dei Chapel for all members and friends of the Our Lady of Holy Cross College community. The theme of the homily was "Gratitude is the heart's memory" (French Proverb).

The proverb points out the relationship between conscious awareness of stored memories and gratitude. It suggests that gratefulness (thank-fullness) is enhanced when we take the time to take stock and appreciate our life experiences, even those that seemed insignificant at the time they took place. Each experience creates some type of memory that can be recalled, many times with significant individuals who become our community of friends and relationships. Each experience adds to the fabric of life and the development of the heart's memory. It turns out that after we take the time to reflect on, and in many cases be appreciative of our experiences, we tend to give thanks more often in day-to-day life. We may even experience less pleasant memories as part of the heart's growth in charity.

Often times, before family and friends begin their thanksgiving meal, they ask the questions of those around the table: What should we give thanks for today? Perhaps each day should be Thanksgiving Day. Certainly, each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we give thanks to God for His unending love and care.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may peace and justice be part of each person's experience throughout the world.

Sincerely,

(Rev.) Anthony J. De Conciliis, C.S.C., Ph.D.
President

We are servant leaders who inspire our students to acknowledge their dreams.
Come Holy Spirit inspire your people to renew the face of the earth.

April 9, 2009

The celebration of Easter is a time for each person to fulfill the ultimate dream of life -- passing over from material slavery to spiritual freedom. In the Hebrew tradition, this passing over is clearly portrayed in the Exodus story; in the Christian tradition, in the sacrifice of the Suffering Servant; and in other religious traditions, learning from masters the art of passing from darkness to enlightenment. All responsible people in the human family seek to be renewed so that they may move from: ignorance to wisdom, poverty to self sustenance, selfishness to self-giving, and ultimately, from secular to spiritual attitudes and behaviors. In a real and concrete way, the Easter holidays help all to realize humanity's dream.

In the epic poem, In Memoriam, Alfred Lord Tennyson describes the development of his spiritual life, a passage from death to life. In the poem, while mourning the loss of his friend, he describes his passing over from his early years of disbelief, in terms of immortality and spirituality, to his rediscovery of the true spirit of life, which includes eternal life. Through his grief and loss, he came to understand the passage from the material world to the spiritual world. Take some moments and reflect on Tennyson's words which amount to his profession of faith.

Strong Son of God, immortal Love,

Whom we, that have not seen thy face,

By faith, and faith alone, embrace,

Believing where we cannot prove;

Thine are these orbs of light and shade;

Thou madest Life in man and brute;

Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot

Is on the skull which thou hast made.

Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:

Thou madest man, he knows not why,

He thinks he was not made to die;

And thou hast made him: thou art just.

Thou seemest human and divine,

The highest, holiest manhood, thou:

Our wills are ours, we know not how;

Our wills are ours, to make them thine.

Our little systems have their day;

They have their day and cease to be:

They are but broken lights of thee,

And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

We have but faith: we cannot know;

For knowledge is of things we see;

And yet we trust it comes from thee,

A beam in darkness: let it grow.

Let knowledge grow from more to more,

But more of reverence in us dwell;

That mind and soul, according well,

May make one music as before, but vaster.

We are fools and slight;

We mock thee when we do not fear:

But help thy foolish ones to bear;

Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.

Forgive what seem'd my sin in me;

What seem'd my worth since I began;

For merit lives from man to man,

And not from man, O Lord, to thee.

Forgive my grief for one removed,

Thy creature, whom I found so fair.

I trust he lives in thee, and there

I find him worthier to be loved.

Forgive these wild and wandering cries,

Confusions of a wasted youth;

Forgive them where they fail in truth,

And in thy wisdom make me wise.

In the Easter liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, Christians and all witness to their faith. In essence, they celebrate a profession of faith in word and deed. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, died and rose for the salvation of the world. In Tennyson's sentiments, God's wisdom came to give humanity wisdom. During Lent, we asked that our "wild and wandering cries" would be forgiven so that we could seek truth, goodness, and wisdom which is beauty. At Our Lady of Holy Cross College, we attempt through the educational community to celebrate the beauty of the ages by sharing in words and deeds, the accumulated wisdom given to us in theology, philosophy, arts, sciences, and professional studies. Through the efforts of dedicated faculty, staff, and friends, all servant leaders, we hope that every student who passes through the portals of the College may experience a little of Tennyson's journey from material to spiritual awareness. In a word, we are hoping that through the educational experience at the College, students will be taught ways to seek the true dream of life, the quest for a life of transformation, seeking knowledge that lasts forever. This is why we profess: "We are servant leaders who inspire our students to acknowledge their dreams." In Jesus Christ, the world has found an ultimate witness to God's design for humanity, a true servant leader. He is a model for all who wish to live according to the Law of God. He brought a message of salvation: a world where the blind will be helped to see; the lame helped to walk; the poor helped to sustain themselves; and a world where all seek justice and peace. See how Tennyson, the poet, speaks to us today and calls us to reflect on our present age and the age to come.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

In these trying times, may this Easter season bring you wisdom and peace. Let us "ring out" the old and "ring in" the new.

In Our Lady of Holy Cross,

Rev. Anthony J. De Conciliis, C.S.C., Ph.D.
President

We are servant leaders who inspire our students to acknowledge their dreams.
Come Holy Spirit inspire your people to renew the face of the earth.

 
March 2, 2009

Dear Board members, Faculty, and Staff:

Gratitude is dynamic, that is, when we give thanks it extends before and beyond the behavior or the thought. With this short note, I want to thank you in advance for everything that brought us to this time in our history.

Prior to our SACS visit, regardless of the outcome, I want to thank you for the work that has been extended over the past several years and, especially, over the past year. As you might know, we were to be visited in 2007, but because of Hurricane Katrina, we had to postpone our visit for two years in order to adequately demonstrate the quality of our school.

I cannot think of anyone or any area that has not felt the effects of this SACS visit and its preparation: facility managers, food preparers, advisors, teachers, administrators, counselors, board members, student life personnel, administrative assistants, scholars, fund raisers, financial and clerical managers, alumni, students, friends, and many others. This means each person, with his or her effort, makes this College the excellent educational community that we are and will continue to be in the future.

In a special way, I want to thank those who spent many hours developing the documents that we have presented for this visit and those who tirelessly led this effort. Your voluntary expression of commitment has not gone unnoticed.

We want to thank the SACS visitors for their assistance to us during their visit at the College. After the visit, we will continue to thank each other and SACS and take on the mantle of excellence into the future.

Respectfully yours,

(Rev.) Anthony J. De Conciliis, C.S.C., Ph.D.
President

We are servant leaders who inspire our students to acknowledge their dreams.
Come Holy Spirit inspire your people to renew the face of the earth.

February 26, 2009


Dear Our Lady of Holy Cross College Community:

The 2009 Mardi Gras, pre-Lent, festivities are completed. All the preparations gave birth to many days of jubilant celebration ending with the message cried out on the streets of the French Quarter: "Mardi Gras is ended."

There is a type of freedom that is experienced in all the preparations and in the glorious expression of color, music, and loud cries of excitement. It all ends in silence, a silence which allows for 40 days of reflection on the real meaning and purpose of Mardi Gras: a forerunner for a time of reflection wherein the meaning of freedom is understood.

Every religious tradition has a "time out" experience. In the Christian tradition it is the season of Lent. It is that period of time spent in prayer, penance, fasting, and self-denial before the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. In a very vivid way, we spend the 40 days with Jesus when he fasted in the wilderness before His Passion and Death. In His moments of reflection, he found the true meaning of freedom and service.

In a recent address, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the meaning of freedom found in the text of Paul to the Galatians: "You were called to freedom." What follows are some reflections that the Pope offers as we begin the Lenten season. It is truly Catholic intellectual tradition at its best, for it reflects on theology and scripture in light of daily life.

The Pontiff posed these questions which are appropriate for us: "What is freedom? How can we be free?"

The Pope suggests that freedom is realized in service. Human beings are truly free when we live in the truth of our dependency on God's love, count on him to provide all things, and offer service to others. He noted that, "freedom has been humanity's great dream since the beginning, but particularly in modern times."

Referring to St. Paul's exhortation to not use freedom as an opportunity for the "flesh", the Holy Father noted that this "flesh" refers to "the absolutizing of the I, of the I that wants to be all and have everything for itself."

He explained that the absolute I does not depend on anything or anyone. "I am free if I do not depend on anyone, if I can do everything I wish."

However, he points out that this is not freedom but rather the "degradation of man." He went on to say that "we are free if we become one another's servants." In other words, human freedom is, on one hand, to be in the joy and great realm of the love of God, but it also implies being only one thing with the other and for the other. "Only a shared freedom is human freedom," he affirmed, and "in being together we can enter the symphony of freedom."

The Holy Father stated: "To serve one another becomes an instrument of freedom, and here we can include a whole philosophy of politics according to the social doctrine of the Church, which helps us to find this common order that gives each one his place in the common life of humanity. The first reality that must be respected, therefore, is truth: Freedom against truth is not freedom. To serve one another creates the common realm of freedom."

"To reduce oneself to the flesh, apparently raising oneself to the rank of divinity -- 'I, man alone' -- introduces a lie. This goes against the truth of our being. Our truth is, above all, that we are creatures, creatures of God and we live in relationship with the Creator. We are rational beings, and only by accepting this relationship do we enter into truth, otherwise we fall into falsehood and, in the end, are destroyed by it."

The Pope underlined the dependency that we as creatures have on God, who loves us. Thus, he said, "our dependence implies being in the realm of his love, in this case, in fact, dependency is freedom."

He added: "And because of this to see God, to orient oneself to God, to know God, to know the will of God, to insert oneself in his will, that is, in the love of God is to enter increasingly into the realm of truth."

Have a wonderful Lenten season. Try to include in these days moments of solitude and reflection.

Yours truly,

Rev. Anthony J. De Conciliis, C.S.C., Ph.D.
President

We are servant leaders who inspire our students to acknowledge their dreams.
Come Holy Spirit inspire your people to renew the face of the earth.

January 20, 2009

Dear Our Lady of Holy Cross College Community:

It is upon dreams that nations, institutions, families, and personal lives thrive and grow. These dreams are indestructible, personal, and the driving forces that allow men and women of every nation, race, and creed to move forward toward the ultimate dream of the creator.

In a time of crisis, the framers of the Declaration of Independence accepted the following as their expression of a dream:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The truth that the Declaration of Independence was ultimately based upon is this: God created nature, and, humanity in that nature. Thus, because of its foundation, all humanity is created equal with the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In his book, Image of America, R.L. Bruckberger, when reflecting on the Declaration of Independence captures the order of things in this world.

All this is established immediately, accepted as self-evident truth, accepted as an order of things that cannot be denied or compromised without grave offense to God and human reason, without unsettling nature itself. All this comes ahead of any political organization.
Political organization comes, and can only come, afterwards, and not to oppose or impede this natural order in any way whatever, but rather to conform to it, to ensure it, to strengthen it, and if necessary, to protect it. The validity and the justice of every political system, of all institutions, their essential legitimacy, are thus measured by the degree of their conformity to this unchanging and sacred natural order.

School systems were established to inspire children and adults to follow their dreams of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They were established to assist student and teacher to find truth, goodness, and beauty for themselves and creation.

At Our Lady of Holy Cross College, we are attempting to follow this original dream of education: to inspire students to acknowledge their dreams in a world that sometimes diverts them from their paths. Educators, politicians, clergy, parents, and all must always preserve the Creator's dream for us -- to find life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As we celebrate this great event in our world's history, let us never forget the roots of our liberty and the challenges we embrace to protect that liberty for all. Let us pray today that all who lead and educate may be servant leaders to all.

We are servant leaders who inspire our students to acknowledge their dreams.
Come Holy Spirit inspire your people to renew the face of the earth.

Respectfully yours,

Rev. Anthony J. De Conciliis, C.S.C., Ph.D.
President