{"id":23315,"date":"2013-05-24T10:11:52","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T14:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=23315"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:51:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:51:33","slug":"cardinal-dolans-commencement-speech-let-me-tell-you-the-secret-of-notre-dame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/cardinal-dolans-commencement-speech-let-me-tell-you-the-secret-of-notre-dame\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Dolan’s Commencement Speech: “Let Me Tell You the Secret of Notre Dame…”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This is pretty wonderful: Cardinal Timothy Dolan\u2019s 2013 commencement speech at Notre Dame<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you, Notre Dame, for the joy of your company, the gracious invitation, the warm welcome, and the high honor of this degree.<\/p>\n

It was so obvious I almost missed it . . .<\/p>\n

See, ever since, almost a year ago, Father Jenkins, with characteristic thoughtfulness, invited me to deliver this commencement address, I\u2019ve been mulling over just what to say to you, class of 2013.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Only Friday a week ago I still had not yet completed this talk, and I got on the train in New York City to travel to D.C. In Philadelphia, a distinguished looking man boarded the train and sat next to me.<\/p>\n

He turned out to be a fanatical, in-your-face, obnoxious Notre Dame alumnus! You ever met one? Nice to meet you! Now I guess I am proudly one, after the privilege of this honorary degree which I so appreciate and cherish! He begins to speak with obviously radiant pride and gratitude about Notre Dame, telling me his faithful Jewish parents wanted him to attend a Catholic college \u2013 \u2013 because, in their words. \u201cThe Church founded the universities, and educate better than anybody else\u201d \u2013 \u2013 and reporting to me that, even as a faithful Jew, he considers his four years here at this Catholic university a gift beyond measure. When I told him I\u2019d be here for graduation, he beamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather,\u201d he went on, holding my arm and looking me in the eye, \u201clet me tell you the secret of Notre Dame. It\u2019s not the library, as first-rate as it is; it\u2019s not the professors and courses, as stellar as they are; it\u2019s not the campus, as enchanting as it is, or even the football team, as legendary as it is. No, the secret of Notre Dame is really a person, whom we Jews call \u2018Miriam,\u2019 and you Christians call \u2018Mary.\u2019 She\u2019s there \u2026 she looks down from the \u2018golden dome\u2019; and, if you really want to discover the secret of Notre Dame, visit that grotto you Catholics call \u201cLourdes.\u201d There\u2019s something there \u2026 no, there\u2019s someone there \u2026 we call her Notre Dame, and she\u2019s the secret of her university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you, Howard. Hope you\u2019re listening to me now, as you promised me on that train you would. Because with those words you solved the riddle about what I should say in these few moments. That was Mother\u2019s Day weekend; it was May, the month dedicated to her; and I had just returned, with fifty sick and disabled people, from a pilgrimage to the \u201creal\u201d Lourdes in France. So obvious I had almost missed it \u2026 I\u2019m going to speak of Notre Dame \u2026 Notre Dame \u2026 our Lady \u2026. Mary, the mother of Jesus.<\/p>\n

One can make the point that she\u2019s perhaps the most important human person ever. Even history itself is divided \u201cbefore\u201d and \u201cafter\u201d the birth she gave to her firstborn. She was there at Christmas at His birth; at Cana, His first miracle; at the foot of the cross; at Pentecost, the feast we celebrate today.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when the appointed time came, God sent His own Son, born of a woman \u2026\u201d St. Paul writes to the Galatians;<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd while there in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to her firstborn \u2026\u201d records St. Luke;<\/p>\n

\u201cMary said to the servants at Cana. \u2018Do whatever He tells you \u2026\u2019\u2019\u2019 reports St. John;<\/p>\n

\u201cNear the cross of Jesus stood His mother \u2026\u201d recalls the Beloved Disciple;<\/p>\n

\u201cThe apostles were in continuous prayer, together with Mary, the mother of Jesus \u2026\u201d writes St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, in the account of Pentecost.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame \u2026 Our Lady \u2026<\/p>\n

John Ruskin held that \u201cevery brightest and loftiest achievement of the arts, dreams, advancement, and progress of humanity has been but the fulfillment of that poor Israelite woman\u2019s prayer, \u2018He who is mighty has magnified me!\u2019 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wordsworth extolled her as \u201cour tainted nature\u2019s solitary boast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll things rising, all things sizing, Mary sees sympathizing \u2026\u201d \u2026 claims Gerard Manley Hopkins, as you, the class of 2013, have sensed her maternal presence \u201crising, sizing, and sympathizing\u201d these blessed years on a campus wrapped in her mantle, and praise God that Father Sorin and that pioneer band of priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Holy Cross placed this most noble endeavor under her patronage from day one 171 years ago.<\/p>\n

Might I propose to you, my new classmates, class of 2013, that she\u2019s not just our patroness, but our model.<\/p>\n

It all comes down to this: she \u2014 Miriam, Mary, Notre Dame, our Lady \u2014 humbly, selflessly, generously, with trust, placed her life in God\u2019s hands, allowing her life to unfold according to His plan. She gave God\u2019s son a human nature; she gave the Eternal Word \u2014 God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity \u2013 \u2013 flesh. That\u2019s called the Incarnation. God became one of us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s much more. Read it all<\/strong>.<\/a> This one\u2019s a keeper.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is pretty wonderful: Cardinal Timothy Dolan\u2019s 2013 commencement speech at Notre Dame: Thank you, Notre Dame, for the joy of your company, the gracious invitation, the warm welcome, and the high honor of this degree. It was so obvious I almost missed it . . . See, ever since, almost a year ago, Father […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,15,28],"tags":[1057,640],"class_list":["post-23315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-education","category-mary","tag-cardinal-dolan","tag-notre-dame"],"yoast_head":"\nCardinal Dolan's Commencement Speech: "Let Me Tell You the Secret of Notre Dame..."<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is pretty wonderful: Cardinal Timothy Dolan's 2013 commencement speech at Notre Dame: Thank you, Notre Dame, for the joy of your company, the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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