Your Beatitude, Your Eminence, Your Grace, Brother Clergy, Professors, Graduates, Students and Guests,

I feel honored to be with you today. This school is a blessing to this country because it is possible to learn the Word of God here and to discover true wisdom. Although this statement has been repeated many times and has, perhaps, lost some of its meaning, nonetheless, it still is true. This school is a blessing. In your studies you are blessed because you have studied about God. These studies are not about an object outside of yourselves, but are about the very source of your life, of your being for today and for the future. The knowledge of God is the fulfillment of humankind because it is through this knowledge that we become fully human.

Your completion of school, or better yet, your commencement of a new journey, opens another page in life. I would like to remind you of several things that your distinguished professors, no doubt, have already explained much better than I will be able to do. Often the problem is not in not knowing, but it is in forgetting. For this reason, every reminder, regardless of how weak it may be, still is worth hearing.

Try to have always in your soul thankfulness toward God. He has given much to you, beginning with the fact that you were called to this school. Having thankfulness is a great weapon with which to face all the difficulties and temptations you will encounter on your path. Christianity has not promised, and does not promise, a happy life in the worldly understanding of happiness, nor does it promise to remove the difficulties. Furthermore, Christ promises that "whoever will follow me must first take up his cross." Nonetheless, Christ provides the power to face these difficulties, and not just to face them, but to transform them. He has the power to turn darkness into light, suffering into joy, death into life. The cross, this instrument of death, was transformed into a life-giving tree. These words are not mere rhetoric. Whoever has thankfulness in his soul has felt the transforming power of thankfulness. The martyrs and the saints of the church have achieved this. Their sufferings were turned into joy and death itself into life. This is not only for Christians of the past. It is also for today.

In the diocese where I serve, while visiting the sick, I have encountered several people who have manifested true gratitude. Rarely in my life have I seen such joy and thankfulness in the soul. These people had more reason than anyone else did, to complain. The first of these was an old lady in her 80s, who had been blind since age three. All her life had been spent in darkness, but in her face was a light and a joy, in her soul an indescribable thankfulness to God. Faith had given her not only the power to face her misfortunes but had transformed them into joy, light, and thankfulness. Every time the name of Christ was mentioned, her entire face would shine with the light of the other world. The second case was that of twin sisters who had been paralyzed when they were one year old. When I met them, they were about 40. They had remained so small in stature, that one man could have held both of them. Their entire life had been spent indoors. Despite all this, their joy and their thankfulness were exceptional and emanated from their entire being. Even now as I remember them, I am ashamed of my own complaining. Christ had not removed their sufferings, but he had given them the power to transform them.

Thankfulness is the sign of true faith and knowledge of God. Beware of the culture of complaining that has gripped our society today. This is a destructive culture that erodes true vision, and creates a world and state of being where one cannot feel the presence of God-a presence that brings thankfulness. Unfortunately, this culture has conquered everything-so much so that if one does not complain, people think there is something wrong with him and view him as a stranger. Complaining has become a natural thing and we no longer see the enormous spiritual damage that accompanies it. This culture is deadly, and that which kills does not come from God. It changes true vision, destroys spiritual unity, and darkens the mind. Only thankfulness in the soul purges the mind, takes away existential anxiety, and opens up a clearer vision of the world.

You have learned many things in this school and have become academically and spiritually rich. It is the duty of every Christian to share with others what he has. Now, more than ever the world needs the light of Christ. The greater the darkness, the greater the need for light. The light that you have absorbed here can be kept and increased only by giving it to others, otherwise it will dim and eventually vanish. Try to keep the light burning. Only by having the zeal to spread this light to others do we truly believe that this is the light. Let us remember the last commandment of Christ, which unfortunately, is often forgotten, "Go and teach all nations." The mission of the church and of everyone who believes in Christ is to spread this light. If a Christian forgets that, he will cease to be Christian. The church without missions is a church without mission. If we don't witness to the good news, what then is our mission? The more the church has missions, the more alive it will be. Missions are the lungs of the church.

Look at the world around you-corruption, despair, evil, anger, and hatred reign everywhere. Only a deep and true religion can heal this world; only a strong morality can heal corruption; only genuine goodness can defeat evil; only a godly hope can overcome despair; only Christian love can conquer anger and hatred. All these -- strong morality, genuine goodness, godly hope, and pure love -- can come only from a genuine, deep and true faith. For this reason, now more than ever, the world needs genuine missionaries of love, people of integrity, and true examples of the Christian life. It is a tragedy that our faith is no longer seen as good news but only as a religion, as Alexander Schmenmann used to say. Thus, we have lost the wonder of the good news and the joy in our hearts that comes from this good news, which is the source of that burning desire to share with others. Furthermore, at times, the place of the good news has been taken by bad news, and more time is spent talking about anti-Christ than about Christ.

Missions don't mean only sending someone to Africa or to Eastern Europe. Missions are our everyday life-a reflection of the teaching and commandments of Christ in our everyday lives. If we live our lives according to these teachings, we will become lights, illuminating others, and being missionaries without even being aware of it, because we spread the gospel by what we are rather than by what we say. Today the world needs living witnesses. It is your duty to tell to the world that the life according to the teachings of Christ is not Utopia, but it is possible. Not only is it possible, it is the only way to live in the deepest sense of living. An existence outside of this life is a mutilated life.

In our times, where lies and half-truths rule, there is a desperate need for the prophetic role of the church; there is a desperate need for lives lived "in spirit and in truth." Sometimes the true faith is fettered by the chains of meaningless ritual, ethnic plague, and by compromise-not telling the truth because it costs. Living with the truth is not easy, but it is the only way to be ontologically free. Often the truth does not coincide with what people want to hear. Christianity is not to entertain people, but to save them. The prophetic role of the church is to say what God is saying. We know from the Holy Scriptures how costly the phrase, "Thus says the Lord," was for the prophets. All of them were persecuted and killed because they said, "Thus says the Lord," because they said the words of God. The kings, rulers, priests, and people wanted the prophets to say only what they wanted to hear, but the prophets said what the Lord was saying. The Scriptures also tell us that there were men who prophesied only what the king and the people wanted to hear. These were the false prophets. Their words were applauded and welcomed for a while, but in the end their words were lost because the truth was not in them. It was the boldness of the true prophets that kept alive the flame of the truth. Unfortunately, often today the prophetic role is betrayed for different reasons-from fear, a lack of love, lukewarmness of faith, self-interest of different groups, or ethnic interests-always loving the glory of man more than the glory of God. Words are spoken that are welcomed for a short time, but in the end, these will die because in them there is no life and truth -- turning us into false prophets. Christ cannot be played with. We will be either prophets of the Most High, or false prophets. There is no middle way. The truth can be persecuted, but it will live. Its words are eternal because, "Thus says the Lord." A lukewarm faith cannot save. By not telling the truth to others, we show that we don't love them. The greatest friend is the one who pushes us toward salvation, and not the one who says sweet words to us. It is only the truth that saves and frees.

I urge you to carry the torch of truth-the torch that was held by the prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, and by all true Christians -- the torch that has brought to us the light, the word, and the life of God, and that has made our beloved church the place where this treasure is preserved. Let us always keep lit this torch so that those in darkness can see, believe and live.

In conclusion, I would ask you to pray always for this school because, despite all the difficulties and obstacles, it still remains one of the few places where the eternal Word of God is taught and preached. Have thankfulness in your hearts for all the people that have made it possible for you to study here. May the Lord bless you and this school. Amen.