A Message for Graduates: Don't Forget Where You Come From!

Rachel with her brothers in times gone by! 

Another grandchild milestone yesterday -- our sweet granddaughter, Rachel, graduated from 8th grade at All Saints School in Manassas and heads to Pope John Paul the Great in August. During his homily, the pastor, Fr. Bob Cilinski, talked about memories -- how memories need to take us into the future. It reminded me of what I always told our college-bound children. "Don't forget where you come from."

The world is filled with temptations to forget.

Forget everything your stodgy old parents told you about virtue and goodness. Live for today. Enjoy life. Eat, drink, twerk, fornicate, and be merry. "Just do it!"

Forget what all your teachers said about knowledge and education being for the purpose of committing yourself to the common good and making the world a better place. No, it's all about you and all about now. Eat, drink, twerk, etc.

Forget what the Church says about loving God first, keeping the Commandments, serving you neighbor, etc. Think about yourself first. You only go around once. Eat, drink twerk, etc.

Yup, the prince of this world wants to fill your head with thoughts of selfish pleasures and a world whose boundaries are your skin -- where you are the tinpot dictator of all you survey. He doesn't want you remember God, or family, or your eternal destiny. And all that "happiness" he promises? It's nothing but a beautifully packaged lie. When you open his "gift" it's filled with a rotting, maggot-covered corpse.

So, graduates, remember where you come from and where you are going. You are the apple of God's eye and He loves you. Don't ever forget that and live like a child of the King with dignity, walking in grace and beauty accompanied by all the angels and saints of God. You belong in the court of the King, not wallowing in Satan's garbage dump!