Baccalaureate Mass Homily by:  Fr. Eligio Cruz, SDB, FIN Province
High School Graduating Batch 2009
Don Bosco technical Institute – Makati City
27 March 2009
St John Bosco Parish

Posted May 25, 2009

            Just before graduation a couple of years ago, the graduating students of an elite school for boys in manila were asked what their main ambition in life was.  All of them without exception answered personal success. And personal success means for them big money on my first job. This is not so in Don Bosco.  Ano ang matatag na pangarap ni Don Bosco para sa inyo?  Kailan totoo ang tagumpay ng isang taga Don Bosco?  It is not personal  success.  It is SIGNIFICANCE and significance means that you don’t only live for yourselves, significance means you  can live for a world that is wider than your own, and embrace a purpose that is greater than yours.  

            Don Bosco will always be committed to one thing.  It is a school that forms heroes and saints out of young people. 
            Old people would lament that you young people are shallow.  Young people today run through life without depth and direction.  They spend their nights in cell phones and chat rooms.  In late night gimmicks and overnight on-line dating, neglectful of their duties.  Are young people today shallow?  I don’t believe young people today are shallow.  When given the proper nurturing environment, young people can become heroes and saints even at their age and this is what makes us proud as a school.  Don Bosco is the only saint in the church who can claim that it has formed many saints in their teens and in their twenty’s. Walang eskwelahan na pwedeng ipagmalaki yun.  Don Bosco lang ang may mga santong teenagers and young professionals.
           
            Dear graduates your stay in Don Bosco is beyond study and you must acquire the capacity to know what is right and what is wrong.   Because today we live in a world where we are easily misled to accept what is sensational is true, what is appealing is good, what is glamorous is noble.  These are not the teaching of Don Bosco.  Be persons of wisdom. Don’t just make it a habit to memorize general info and mathematical formulas, make it a habit to always search for  truth, and to question lies and to learn as many good and right things as you can so that you can live dignified lives.

            For The Chinese,  8 is a lucky number and so in the Olympic games in Beijing last year it was actually set to open 8 minutes before8  pm on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008.  Five 8’s,   two lucky numbers for the Chinese. It is as if the success of the games depends on the alignment of the numbers but no matter how perfectly the lucky stars are aligned or even how professionally things are well prepared they say in real life bad things happen, bad things come, bad people come and expect that in college.   Crosses will always be part of our following of Christ and so when bad days come, bad things come, when bad people come, what do you do?  Some become restricted and not able to move on, they become haunted      and paralyzed.  They became Lilliputians  in Gulliver’s Travel,  little people in the land of giants.

            My dear Bosconians, it is not so with the Apostle’s of Christ after His resurrection.  They were being haunted and persecuted for believing in Christ but they were brave. How much is this basketball worth in your hands?  It is only worth 8 hundred pesos but in the hands of Michael Jordan it is worth 8 hundred million pesos.  You see it depends , on whose hands, it  is in.  A stick in my hands will not keep the dogs away but a stick in the hand of Moses divided the Red Sea.  It depends, in whose hands, it is in.  A slingshot in the  hands of a little boy is  just a toy   but a slingshot in the hands of David was a mighty weapon against the giant Goliath.  You see, it depends, on whose hands, it is in.  2 Fish and 5 pcs of bread loaves of bread in the hands of a cook are two pairs of tuna sandwich.  But two fish and 5 loaves of bread in the hands of Jesus fed 5000 men not counting the women and children.  You see, it depends on whose hands it is in.  A nail in the hands of a carpenter will build a bird house, but nails in the hands of Jesus produced salvation for all people.  You see, it depends on whose hands it is in. 

            So the final challenge to you as you graduate is to put yourself in the hands of Jesus.  Don’t put him away from your life.  These are the Jonas brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick.  They are an all American Boy band who gained popularity on the Children’s television network the Disney Channel and the Jonas Brothers are not only wearing hipster ties  and if you notice(picture) they are also wearing purity rings, which is a fashion or the better word, which is  an advocacy today in America and like many young people , they have taken a vow to be chased and promised to remain virgin until they get married and many laughed at them of course .  But the Jonas Brothers are Christ centered teenagers and they are proud of that.  Jordan Sparks , the 2007 American idol champion  defended the Jonas Brothers at the last MTV video music award after the host Russel Rand   joked about the siblings’ purity vow.  And Jordan Sparks who also wears a purity ring as a symbol of her vow not to have sex before marriage said  “ I just want to say it is not bad to wear a promise ring because not every guy and girl wants to be a slut okay?”  and the audience cheered.  You see the secret is a life of prayer, a life of faith , a God centered life, a spiritual life.  Sana wag kayong sasabog pagpunta sa college.  Ang hirap pero dasal lang ang katapat.  A prayerful life will reconfigure your life when the going gets tough.

            My dear bosconians when you go to college and you face the realities of life, sa unang tingin and mabubuting tao ay mukhang dehado sa buhay , ang mga kurakot ay yumayaman ang mga gimikero ay nageenjoy, ang mga suwail nakakalamang.  Evil decepticons like those of the transformers may seem to win   but a person of faith will attest that evil will always be defeated by goodness.  Always because our God is a sure winner.  This is Garfield and his philosophy in life is “ I hate Mondays”  tamad magaral.  Winnie the POOH:  his Philosophy is:  it is hard to be brave when you are only a small animal.  “ ang baba ng self esteem.”  Sana you graduate realizing that your worth is to live a heroes life if you are centered in God. 

            At the end of this day may you realize that You made it well.  Congratulations to you graduates.