Everyone knows that our spoken words often are simply inadequate to capture the sheer depth of human feelings. What can one possibly say at the wonder of the birth of a baby or at the anguish in the face of someone who has suffered the death of a loved one? How do we express horror, shame, fear, or today - immense pride and joy? Some phrases in moments of intense feelings are not only inadequate, they have become insipid: "we send our thoughts and prayers" to cite a useless contemporary phrase.
However, there are some words that do manage effectively to fuse the tongue to the human heart - thank you is a great example.
Thank you unveils the truth that we may well have received something that is far beyond our due. Thank you acknowledges that others have played a momentous role in your own personal good fortune. I trust that our graduates today will use that phrase repeatedly when speaking to your family members, to faculty, to administrators, and to the countless hundreds of people here at Boston College who have made your academic adventure not only successful but perhaps even genuinely blessed.
Most of you will search for words today that will express the depth of your feelings for others on this graduation day. Words of thanks, words of pride, and words of wonder at this moment are plentiful. I too have long thought about the words that I might use today here at Boston College's Commencement ceremony. I have searched for a few words that might inspire and hopefully even encourage our graduates. I sought for words that simultaneously would honor the great legacy of Jesuit education that is so much a part of this University - words that might fit this occasion - all without being too lengthy.
Words are powerful vehicles, as writers and poets know all too well. Words can bring tears and they can incite rage. Words can heal and they can inflame. Occasionally the very same words can inspire some people while they may enrage others. In today's world, social media have provided an almost indispensable platform for words that can stir the human spirit to positive and negative passions. Black Lives Matter have become words that some people find encouraging while some others only find them to be agitating if not threatening. #MeToo is a phrase that now seems to elicit the same range of conflicting feelings.
The greatest challenge that we all continue to face is to make sure that our words do not contradict our actions, our hearts, or our faith. We all must strive to ensure that there is a consistency between what we say and how we live. That unity between our words and our lives is a lifelong challenge for every person. Only God Himself has managed to have achieved perfection in this regard as Saint John the Gospel Writer announces when he proclaims, "And the Word became Flesh." Only God has managed to say everything with one Word.
There are too many examples both in today's world and throughout human history where a person's actions were disconnected from an individual's words. That distinction is often called fraud, which is an ugly word to be sure. A few people historically have been able to use words that stir the human heart to great hope.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a master wordsmith. His death 50 years ago was largely in recompense for the inspiration and the hope that many people found in his words that challenged our nation. Unfortunately, there were and remain people who find those same words to be intimidating and threatening. The author of the Book of Hebrews reminded the ancient Church and all of us as well that the Word of God was a double-edged sword; so too are many of the words that have gained popularity in today's world.
I now invite our graduates and I remind all others here today in their honor to take careful watch over the words that we use. We have entered a moment in human history where offensive, abusive words have been absolved and issued a carte blanche and perhaps even welcomed in public discourse. Through the great advantage and equal detriment of social media, debate and disagreement often have been reduced to defamation and denigration. This is absolutely counter to what your Jesuit education has striven to teach you. Disputes are best addressed to principles, ideas, and policies rather than to be used to demolish the reputation, dignity, and humanity of those with whom we may disagree. I urge you to use words that may clearly voice your strong opinions but also shun the annihilation of another individual's human dignity.
Your years here at Boston College have been punctuated by far too many events of violence that have occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada; Charleston, South Carolina; Sutherland Springs, Texas; Orlando and Parkland, Florida; and the most recent one this Friday in Santa Fe, Texas, to mention only the most notorious ones. Most of the perpetrators of those acts of bloodshed were not foreign-born immigrants but native to our own country. The words that have been used to describe them and their actions have often attempted to identify them as "other." While the motives and the psychological conditions of those troubled individuals may never be fully identified, their actions have succeeded in startling our beloved country and indeed all people of goodwill everywhere.
Our desired national identity is not that of a cruel or angry people. We are startled and offended by brutal human behavior that recently seems to abound. Therefore, men and women of our nation must unite in calling us to our nobler selves and the way that we speak about and to other people must lay the foundation for a much-needed and long-overdue restoration of civility and respect. We must work together to address the causes that prompt and allow people to commit such acts of hatred and brutality.
Too often, people have attempted to attribute those horrible events to people of a specific religion or culture - much like some people of a generation ago spoke about those who were engaged in the struggle for civil rights as agitators and disruptors. In truth, we must confess that today's troubled souls have often been influenced not only by their own mental state but they also have been prompted by the hostile language environment of hatred. Our first responsibility ought to be to lower the tone of rhetoric of hatred. Every one of us must be engaged in the struggle to speak more civilly and respectfully about - and certainly to - all other people.
The words that our graduates and families will use today with each other will obviously be warm and comforting, gentle and encouraging. Let us now pledge to use such words more frequently so that they always convey a heart that may be deeply passionate in its beliefs but always compassionate in its expression when speaking about and to all others. Saint Paul said it best to the Ephesians and to all of our graduates and to all of us: No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29