Fr. Thom's Homilies

          Before we knew that Bishop Zinkula would be our commencement speaker, he was to be the homilist for this Commencement Mass, as is our custom here.   You may have noticed that in your worship aids.   But given that we will get to hear from him a little later today, we thought we would lighten his load at least a little bit.   And so, I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for me this morning.           “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”           The Gospel passage that we just heard is very familiar to us.   If you’re thinking that you just heard that somewhere recently, you did !   This was the Gospel for just this past Sunday, the Sixth Sunday of Easter.   But in looking for possible readings for this Commencement Mass, my fellow campus ministers and I felt that this passage captured beautifully what this day is all about.   Also, if repetition is indeed the “mother of all learning,” it doesn’t hurt

          There is a story about an American Cardinal who in some of those topsy-turvy years immediately following the Second Vatican Council (in the late 60’s or early 70’s) was presiding at a Mass, but was not the homilist.   Rather, the priest who was preaching got up and began his homily by saying: “Love…love, love, love.”   Just that far into it and the Cardinal had apparently had enough, so he stood up and began to chant, “ Credo in unum Deum ,” skipping right over the homily and immediately intoning the Creed, in Latin no less.   Who knows what the content of that homily might have been, but apparently the Cardinal felt the “love” that this priest was peddling was more of the “ooey-gooey” variety, and he was having none of it.           I mention this because, of course, in the Gospel this Sunday we hear a lot about love.   In fact, we have and will continue to hear a lot of this Gospel in these days.   A portion of this passage was the Gospel for Friday of this past week,