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In his homily, Cardinal Burke reflected on the everlasting motive for such liturgical grandeur: the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit. He prayed that the Class of 2024 may experience a new Pentecost, “that the life of Christ in them, the life of true sons and daughters of God, through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in their souls, may continue to flourish, inspiring and strengthening them to serve God faithfully, generously, and purely, and bringing them each day securely along the way to their true destiny.”

Following the Mass, graduates mingled briefly with their families and friends before reconvening for the Commencement Ceremony in the Moody Auditorium. After a brief welcome from College President Dr. Paul J. O’Reilly, the day’s speakers reflected on the graduates’ achievements — and on the duties redounding on them in their new lives.

In the Senior Address, Paul Habsburg (’24) exhorted his classmates to continue nurturing their appetite for excellence, which they have cultivated during their four years engaged in the noble and ennobling task of seeking truth. “Understand the importance of what we study, especially for our society, embrace it,” he said. “Let us go out and do great things for God on this earth.”

Complementing Mr. Habsburg’s exhortation, Cardinal Burke reminded the graduates in his Commencement Address that they can only do anything for God — great or small — by remaining close to the Lord through prayer and the sacraments. “The exceptional Catholic education which you, dear graduates, have received has led you to the truth to which your reason is naturally attracted and which your faith identifies in all its wonderful richness,” he said. “The all-beautiful and lasting fruit of your education is a life lived in Christ.”

After the speeches, graduates received their hoods and diplomas one by one. President O’Reilly then continued a longstanding Thomas Aquinas College tradition by concluding the ceremony with the following “Charge to the Graduates,” written by the College’s founding president, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, for its first Commencement in 1975:

You are charged, beginning this day,
with maintaining, defending, and protecting
your Catholic heritage —
its faith, its hope, its charity,
and all its learning and culture.

You must strive in your lives to live for God alone,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
and to insist, in season and out of season,
on the primacy of Peter and the Church he governs.

You must understand
that no matter what the conditions of the world,
what the vicissitudes of the suffering Church,
what the past has bequeathed you,
what the future holds for you,
that, in Newman’s courageous and hopeful words,
“All who take part with the Apostle
are on the winning side.”

Each of you must so live your life
that when you are to meet your Maker you can say,
as did the Angelic Doctor
as he received the Eucharist for the last time,

“I receive thee,
price of my redemption,
viaticum of my pilgrimage,
for love of whom I have fasted, prayed, taught, and labored.
Never have I said a word against Thee.
If I have, it was in ignorance,
and I do not persist in my ignorance.
I leave the correction of my work to the Holy Catholic Church,
and in that obedience I pass from this life.”

May God bless you on your way.

Upon hearing these words, the graduates sang the hymn Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini Tuo da gloriam — “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory.” They then ventured at last into the world as the newest alumni of Thomas Aquinas College, sustained by memories of the community they helped to build, set to embark on the next stage of their lives.