On September 18 the Tagaste community celebrated the traditional votive Mass of the Holy Spirit to formally open the school year, 2006-2007. The principal celebrant of the liturgy was the prior, Fr. Ramón Gaitán. The homily (which follows) was given by Fr. John Gruben.
It's been a long-standing tradition in the Church and in the Order to formally begin a new school year with a special Mass invoking the Holy Spirit to be with us, to inspire us, and to direct us in the studies which we are undertaking. I can remember from my novitiate days in Kansas City celebrating this custom each year as an Augustinian Recollect. It was a custom that took on special meaning for me the year that I studied in Rome. Classes in the Catholic universities in Rome, as Fr. Emilio knows very well, begin about a month later than here in the United States, in other words around mid-October. And that beginning is marked in a most impressive way. All the schools of Rome-faculties and students alike-gather at the Vatican where the Pope himself celebrates Mass and offers words of encouragement and blessing on all of those dedicated to the educational apostolate-to both formators and formandi. It's very impressive to see thousands of students: laymen and women, priests, and seminarians, together with the Church hierarchy from all parts of the world join in prayer with the Holy Father as they take up their studies in the various disciplines of academic life. Very clearly it's a manifestation of the Church universal, exercising one of its most important functions: that of teacher in the name of Christ; seeking that knowledge and wisdom that has God as its ultimate source and goal.
We, of course, are far from Rome, and our liturgy for the opening of the school year is, perhaps, more humble, yet we are joined in faith today with all those in various stages of initial and ongoing formation throughout the Order and the Church who are beginning a new year of studies. It's important for us, then, to fully realize and appreciate what we are doing as we search for truth in the many forms in which it will reveal itself to us during the coming year, a truth that is not confined to the academic or even the intellectual, although these qualities are supremely important. We must make good use of our time and not allow weariness or routine to prevent us from taking full advantage of this opportunity to expand our minds and increase our store of knowledge. At the same time, as professed and aspiring religious, we must always remember that our study is meant to prepare us not so much for a career as for a vocation, not so much for a job as for a ministry of service. In our studies we must constantly look to Jesus, who, in the words of our Father Augustine, is our Interior Teacher, He who is always visible to us in the splendid mosaic impressed upon the wall of our chapel sanctuary and even more importantly who dwells in the sanctuary of minds enlightened by faith and hearts warmed by the love of the Holy Spirit.
We must strive to keep in careful balance, as we said the other day, the various elements that should always be present in our lives as religious and which are expressed so well in our Plan of Formation, "Studium Sapientiae": bene virvere, bene orare, bene studere: to live well, to pray well, and to study well. Certainly for us, as Augustinian Recollect religious, the order of these elements is not accidental: before we can study well, we must live and pray well. We must live good and virtuous lives, lives that are rooted not only in our relationship with God and obedience to his laws and our own vows, but also in fraternal communion with our brothers in this religious family; we must learn how to pray, as our Father Augustine would say, not only with our lips but with our hearts as well. Of course, all these elements complement and reinforce each other for, as Augustine also says: one cannot love what he does not first know. So our growth in knowledge, most especially in the sacred sciences, but also in those related topics in the arts and sciences that express the richness of human cultures, make us more aware and more appreciative of the fact that they are reflections of the goodness, the beauty, and the truth of the Triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-in and through whom all things exist.
It is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, the Spirit of Wisdom and of Knowledge that we invoke today in the faith and humility expressed by the Centurion in our Gospel: "Lord, I am not worth that you should come under my roof. . ." We look forward to continuing and deepening our partnership with Seton Hall University, Immaculate Conception Seminary, and Guadalupe Center. At the same time we remind ourselves that we here at Tagaste are members of a family, dedicated to the same values and goals, and that we must help and accompany one another along the way in things academic as well as in things spiritual and fraternal. And so to those in initial formation especially I say, count on us, your older brothers in community, to help you in whatever ways we can, to share with you what we have learned and continue to learn, so that guided together by the Spirit, we may grow in our desire to follow Christ, our interior teacher, and our model in seeking and finding the eternal truth of God.
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