All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God!  Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; break into song; sing praise!

In the midst of celebrating the Easter season, the words from today’s psalm seem to reflect our Creighton community’s mood of exuberance as well.  Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wondrous deeds!  Today we are celebrating Spring Commencement for our graduating class of 2003, a joyful milestone for our students and their families.  What a tremendous blessing for the faculty, staff, and administrators who have labored with love over our students’ intellectual and spiritual growth these past four years.  We are so privileged to be witnesses to their new life as they leave our close-knit University community and bring what we know about them to the world!

Psst:  We know a secret!

We know, like Paul and Barnabas knew about the Gentiles in Acts of the Apostles, that God is doing something entirely new with these graduates.  God is choosing them to go forth from our Creighton community, and to live what they have been practicing while they were among us.  We trust that these students will continue to commit themselves to the pursuit of Truth in all its forms, live in solidarity with those most in need, respect life in all its forms, promote community among peoples of different races, cultures, and religions, and of course, celebrate life fully with their friends and families.  We trust that they will “shake the dust from their feet” whenever they encounter pessimism and rejection, envy, persecution, and enmity.  We trust that they will be bridge-builders, innovators, peace-makers, and leaders, delighted to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.  We trust that they will see God’s goodness in themselves and in others.

That is the secret!

Like King Arthur facing the destruction of Camelot on the eve of a cataclysmic war, we are sending forth our messengers with great hope.  They are like Camelot’s young “knights” running behind battle lines to carry the Good News of another life, a better life to everyone.  “RUN!” we shout after them.  “RUN – BEHIND THE LINES!!!”  We trust them, like Arthur trusted a little boy, and like Jesus trusted His disciples, to do works much greater than the ones we do.  We trust our students to carry forth our research, our teaching, our little ways of service, and our hopes and dreams for a new world shining with the light of Truth and the justice that paves the way for peace.

Just as we are very proud of our students, profoundly grateful for their gifts, and certainly hopeful that their service of others will extend the mission we share to the ends of the earth, so God relies on all of us to be ambassadors of Good News to our world.  This is our mission, should we choose to accept it.

Psst:  God knows a secret!  God’s goodness is in us!

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God!  Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; break into song; sing praise!