Good morning, and welcome to Divine Mercy University's graduation mass offered in honor of the graduates and degree candidates of the 2,025 commencement exercises.
We are honored to hold this special event at Saint John Newman Catholic Church and ask that an atmosphere fitting of the sacred space be maintained throughout the entire event.
Please take this moment to silence any phones or other electronic devices.
So that everyone is able to see the graduates entering, please remain seated during the academic procession.
Thank you.
Our opening hymn is all people who on earth do dwell found in your program, please rise.
In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit.
Amen.
Peace be with you.
And with your spirit.
Good morning.
My name is father Charles Sikorsky, and I'm the president of Divine Mercy University.
And I wanna welcome everyone to the twenty twenty five commencement mass for Divine Mercy University.
We're celebrating our twenty fifth anniversary this year, and we're blessed this morning to have with us as the main celebrant, Bishop Michael Burbage from the Diocese of Arlington, and also Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Arlington, Bishop Paul Laverde, who was a founding board member of Divine Mercy University and has been with us for all these twenty five years.
So a real blessing to have those bishops with us.
We also have 13 Concelebrants here, and just wanna welcome each one of you here, particularly, of course, our our graduates who today celebrate this great achievement and begin a commencement, a new stage in their lives.
So welcome them, welcome their families.
Also, all those who are watching virtually who couldn't be here today but would like to be, welcome to you as well.
Our mass is an opportunity for us to pray together and put the lives of our graduates, the work they're going to do in our Lord's hands, to commend them to the Lord as they begin this new part of their journey, And also to thank them, to thank the Lord for the great gifts that they've been to us and to so many people now and in the future.
So let's pray together as a community and and really pray to lift our graduates up and put them in our Lord's hands.
Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.
I confess to almighty God, and to you as well as your sisters, But I heard your existence in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have dealt to do.
Through my thoughts, through my thoughts, through my misrepresents fault.
Therefore, I ask the sinner as your church, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for these, O Lord, our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Killed him.
Let us pray.
Oh, God, who in the font of baptism have made new those who believe in you, keep safe those reborn in Christ That defeating every onslaught of error, they may faithfully preserve the grace of your blessing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
She was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord.
And with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, she grew in numbers.
As Peter was passing through every region, he went down to the holy ones living in Lydda.
There, he found a man named Aeneas who had been confined to bed for eight years, for he was paralyzed.
Peter said to him, and as Jesus Christ heals you, get up and make your bed.
He got up at once, and all the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Now in Joppa, there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated as Dorcas.
She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.
Now during those days, she fell sick and died.
So after washing her, they laid her out in a room upstairs.
Since Lydda was near Java, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him with a request.
Please come to us without delay.
So Peter got up and went with them.
When he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs where all the widows came to him weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks that Dorcas had made while she was with them.
Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed.
Then he turned to her body and said, Tabitha, rise up.
She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.
He gave her his hand and raised her up.
And when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive.
This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the lord.
The word of the Lord.
Your words, Lord, are spirits The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
A reading from the holy gospel according to John.
Glory to you, Lord.
Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, this saying is hard.
Who can accept it?
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, does this shock you?
What if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe.
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.
And he said, for this reason, I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my father.
As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him.
Jesus then said to the 12, do you also want to leave?
Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.' The gospel of the Lord.
To graduates, you graduated a very special time as the universal church continues to celebrate our jubilee year, focus on the theological virtue of hope, as Divine Mercy University celebrates its twenty fifth anniversary and only a few days after we have been introduced to our new holy father, Pope Leo fourteenth, for whom we pray for in a special way at this mass as he begins his ministry among us.
Dear graduates, you are here today as a result of God's grace, for sure.
But also because of the way you have cooperated with that grace through hard work and dedication, sacrifices, and perseverance through a very rigorous program.
And all of us here today are very proud of you and extend our sincere congratulations.
This is truly a mass of thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving for the gift of Divine Mercy University, a jewel, a treasure in our diocese, and a gift to the entire church.
Thanksgiving for what the Lord has done for all of you.
And thanksgiving, I'm sure, dear graduates, for all the special people who have helped you along the way, the administrators and faculty, your spouses and parents, family members and friends, I know you give thanks to God for all of them.
And as you go forth today, I am very confident that the Lord will send you as instruments of his healing love and know that you go with our prayers.
I suspect that, if not all, many of us at certain times have encountered people in desperate situations like in today's reading.
Aeneas who was paralyzed and confined to bed for eight years And Tabitha, who had died after an illness.
At moments like these, it is very easy for us to fall into the temptation to lose hope, to give up, to think that nothing can change or be done, or maybe even begin to think that no one cares.
Yet, we just heard how God, through the action and intercession of Saint Peter, healed Aeneas and restored Tabitha to life.
And because of these miracles, we are told, many turn to the Lord and came to believe in him.
Not only were the people who witnessed these events amaze, but they also discovered hope.
The hope united to faith that with God, all things are possible.
At the same time, the healing that the Lord accomplishes is also a sign of his mercy or we could say his merciful love towards those in need.
Without a doubt, Divine Mercy University has and continues to exemplify the qualities, the virtues of hope and mercy.
It is providential that today's baccalaureate mass is being celebrated during the jubilee year in which our beloved holy father, Pope Francis, dedicated to the theme of hope.
In the dawn of eviction for the beginning of the jubilee, Pope Francis wrote, with Jesus, joy flourishes.
With him, life changes for the better, and hope does not disappoint.
He went on to say that by our words and example, we can be messengers of hope.
The hope that is ours in the lord and his power to transform and and heal us.
Think of all the times.
The lord has done that for you.
Pope Francis reminded us that in Christ Jesus, physical, spiritual, and emotional healing are always possible.
As graduates of Divine Mercy University, you will surely meet and work with individuals who feel themselves paralyzed.
Paralyzed by the grip of addictions, mental health challenges, emotions, and behaviors that impede persons from reaching the full human flourishing that God wants for them.
You will surely encounter people who might consider themselves dead spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically.
Dear graduates, I encourage you, please be witnesses.
Be signs of hope for them.
In offering psychological and spiritual counsel and guidance, you seek to promote emotional and relational health and well-being as well as diagnosing and treating a wide range of psychological and spiritual issues.
In this work, which can be difficult at times, not seeing immediate results we desire, I invite you not to be discouraged or ever to lose hope.
The Lord is always working through you in ways you may not see or cannot even imagine.
Just as Jesus's words were ones of spirit and life for his disciples, as the gospel tells us, so your words, together with your example of patience and perseverance, compassion and love can be instruments through which the holy spirit will transform the marked minds and hearts, souls, and very lives of those to whom he will send you.
Your time at Divine Mercy University has given you great insights into the Catholic vision of the human person, which is lacking.
Lacking in our world and society.
And where there is that void, there are so many obstacles to people truly healing.
Integrating this Christian anthropology with the best practices in psychological theory, research and intervention allows you, dear graduates, to be professionally competent in the study of modern scientific psychology.
It helps you also to understand the human mind and human behavior and to recognize those obstacles in our midst that keep us from living a healthy and balanced life.
Likewise, your studies and training have introduced you to the importance of fostering a spiritual life for those you serve but also for yourself.
How could you ever imagine carrying out this work without a deep spiritual life, relying on the Lord's divine insistence so that you can serve him and be instruments of supernatural graces.
As you pursue your calling to alleviate suffering, know that you are not only restoring hope, but also practicing a work of mercy.
To heal the sick and to provide counsel belong among the corporal spiritual works of mercy the church's tradition presents to us.
Practicing these works of mercy forms the part, the heart of the mission of Divine Mercy University, which clearly states in uniting the best of psychological and spiritual theory and practice, the university seeks to remind everyone that no one, no one is beyond God's mercy and love.
Receiving this divine gift is a source of hope for which we are always renewed by the Lord when we return to him.
Realizing as Saint Peter said in the gospel, he has the words of eternal life.
Dear graduates, although there will be challenges you will have to face, be convinced.
Convinced that Jesus accompanies you and strengthens you in his mercy so that you can serve as beacons of hope for others, especially those of our brothers and sisters who may experience doubts, fears, anxieties, distress and hopelessness.
As you and all of us try daily to reflect the compassion of Christ, I encourage you to pray.
Pray fervently.
Pray daily to do what Peter did in the acts of the apostles to raise up those who feel paralyzed, to lift up those who are suffering and give them hope despite any obstacles.
Help them to know God will never give up on them.
And his love is infinite and his mercy is divine.
Strengthen then, graduates, by the precious gift of the Holy Eucharist we are about to receive.
And through the prayers of Mary, Queen of Hope, may you go forward today as messengers of hope and witnesses of hope, the hope that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord, The hope that does not disappoint.
For in him, joy flourishes and life changes for the better.
Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Dear graduates, with everyone present today, I extend to you our sincere congratulations for all that you have accomplished.
And pray that you will be counted among the blustered.
When this joyful day and always Amen.
Please stand.
Renewed in faith, joyful in hope, we present our petitions to our loving and merciful God.
For the universal church, may the power of Christ's resurrection convert us into convinced and joyful disciples of the risen Lord.
We pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For our newly elected holy father, pope Leo the fourteenth, Michael Burbage, our bishop, and all the clergy, may the Paschal mystery continue to transform them into the image of Christ, empowering them to form the lay faithful into Christ's ardent disciples.
We pray to the lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For those who suffer mentally and spiritually because of abuse, trauma, or mental illness, May they be supported by their family and friends and attain healing through God's grace and and compassionate professional care.
We pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the graduates of Divine Mercy University, may the Lord accompany each one of us as we serve those in need of healing and hope.
We pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the faculty, staff, students, and supporters of Divine Mercy University, may they be blessed in their mission to serve the dignity of every human person, created in God's image through the science of psychology, the wisdom of theology, and the profession of counseling.
We pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Heavenly father, inspired by the Holy Spirit through the intercession of Mary, our mother, and Saint Joseph, please hear these prayers we bring to you through Jesus who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Accept in compassion, Lord, we pray the offerings of your family that under your protective care, they may never lose what they have received, but attain the gifts that are eternal through Christ our lord.
Amen.
The lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
It is right and just.
It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, at all times to acclaim you, oh Lord.
But in this time above all, to laud you yet more gloriously when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.
For with the old order destroyed, a universe cast down is renewed and integrity of life is restored to us in Christ.
Therefore, overcome with Paschal joy, every land, every people exalts in your praise and even the heavenly powers with the angelic hosts sing together the unending hymn of your glory as they acclaim.
You are indeed holy, oh Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise.
For through your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy.
And you never cease to gather people to yourself.
So that from the rising of the sun to its setting, a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.
Therefore, oh lord, we humbly implore you by the same spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration.
That they may become the body and blood of your son, our lord Jesus Christ at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.
For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread and giving you thanks he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying, take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for you.
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice and giving you thanks, he said the blessing and gave the chalice to his disciples saying, take this all of you and drink from it.
For this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in memory of me.
The mystery of faith.
Therefore, o Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the saving passion of your son, his wondrous resurrection and ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.
Look we pray upon the oblation of your church and recognizing the sacrificial victim by whose death you will to reconcile us to yourself.
Grant that we who are nourished by the body and blood of your son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.
Through him and with him and in him, oh God, almighty father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.
At the savior's command and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say, our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil.
Graciously grant peace in our days, that by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress.
As we await the blessed hope and the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your apostles, peace I leave you, my peace I give you.
Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your church.
And graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
The peace of the lord be with you always.
And with your spirit.
Let us offer each other the sign of peace.
Peace with you, John.
Thank you.
Peace with you.
Behold the lamb of God.
Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.
Blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb.
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
May the body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.
Applause.
Let us pray.
Keep safe, o Lord, we pray, those whom you have saved by your kindness, that redeemed by the passion of your son, they may rejoice in his resurrection, who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Please bow down for the blessing.
May God, who by the resurrection of his only begotten son, was pleased to confer on you the gift of redemption and of adoption, give you gladness by his blessing.
Amen.
May he, by whose redeeming work you have received the gift of everlasting freedom, make you heirs to an eternal inheritance.
Amen.
And may you, who have already risen with Christ in baptism through faith, by living in a right manner on this earth, be united with him in the homeland of heaven.
Amen.
And may almighty God bless you, the father, the son, and the holy spirit.
Amen.
Go forth.
The mass is ended.
Thanks be to God.
Please be seated.
The commencement exercises will begin shortly.
Thank you.
The 2,025 commencement exercises of Divine Mercy University are now in order.
Good afternoon.
My name is Doctor Steven Grundman, professor in the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University.
I have the great honor to serve today as marshal of Divine Mercy University's twenty fourth commencement exercises.
To begin this momentous event, I have the great pleasure of introducing the third president of Divine Mercy University, father Charles Sikorsky.
Since 2007, father Charles has led Divine Mercy University through significant growth and important milestones of our institutional history.
We are grateful to you, Father Charles, for your faithful service and dedication to this important and necessary mission these past nineteen years.
Father Charles, I invite you to come forward for opening remarks.
Bishop Burbage, Bishop Laverde, Doctor.
Brooks, our esteemed faculty members, and most of our dear graduates, members of their families and friends who are all present here or or who are watching virtually, welcome to the twenty fourth commencement exercises for Divine Mercy University.
On behalf of the board of directors, the faculty, staff, benefactors, and many friends of Divine University, Mercer University, I welcome you all.
And I congratulate our our graduates for a job well done.
Every commencement celebration is the high point of the year for all of us, the most joyous time for our university community.
We look forward to this celebration with enthusiasm, knowing that the mission of Divine Mercy University, which Bishop Burbage articulated so well in his homily, is carried by and through each and every one of our graduates.
Our joy this year is heightened by the election of our new pope, Leo the fourteenth, and by the fact that we're celebrating our 20 anniversary.
We'll be honoring later today with lifetime achievement awards, three individuals who've played indispensable roles in the founding and the development of our institution.
But today, you, our graduates, join in the celebration and honors your hard work, sacrifices, your gifts, your grit, as well as the providential mission of the university.
Above all, it's a new beginning in God's loving plan for each one of you and a call to a vital and urgent mission.
Saint John Paul the second, this quote that I really love, gets to the heart of what you do.
By its very nature, your work often brings you to the threshold of human mystery.
It involves sensitivity to the tangled works and workings of the human mind and heart, and openness to the ultimate concerns that give meaning to people's lives.
These are areas of utmost importance to the church.
The harvest is abundant.
The laborers are few.
But today, our university community provides a response to our Lord's call as we celebrate a total of a 197 graduates.
We have a 141 in the graduate programs who are gonna be honored today, but also another 56 in our spiritual direction course who have a have a separate graduation ceremony.
Our graduates come from 15 different countries.
When we begin back in 1999, we started with a group of only 12 students.
And the first classes were held at the Key Bridge Marriott.
The campus wasn't ready at that time.
You might hear more about that later.
And for some reason but for some reason, God likes to start big things with 12.
Okay?
And with today's graduates, our alumni work, network is going to grow close to 1,200 graduates and alumni.
Each one of you is an answer to many prayers.
So many the world has tremendous needs.
And in his first homily as pope yesterday, Leo the fourteenth, talked about the context of the current world in which we're living.
And I think it meshes so perfectly with the work you're going to be doing.
So there are many places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed.
A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life.
The neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family, and so many other wounds that afflict our society.
I'm fully confident each one of you have been fully prepared to heal those wounds, to give people meaning, mercy, consolation in so many different ways for them, their families, and for our society.
There are very few career paths that provide the opportunity to have such direct impact on helping people flourish and truly evangelize the culture and evangelize society and the path that you've chosen for your career.
So you truly answer to many prayers.
The hard work and sacrifice that has led you here today is worthy of great praise.
And it's indeed edifying to see how you've responded to God's invitation to serve your brothers and sisters in need.
May our loving father, who has begun this good work and you bring it to fulfillment, may his kingdom come through you on earth as it is in heaven.
We'd next like to recognize our faculty.
We have faculty recognition for faculty achievements this year.
And, every year is a big faculty achievement.
So we really need to thank our faculty.
They all worked so hard and have given up so much to be with us.
And I just want to publicly thank them for for all they do, and apologize for how I make your lives difficult sometimes.
But thank you so much, to our faculty.
And throughout the academic year, our faculty members have tirelessly dedicated themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, teaching excellence, and scholarly endeavors.
Today, we have an achievement to acknowledge.
It's with great pride that we announce the promotion of Doctor.
Anthony Bond, who has attained the rank of associate professor in this ID program.
So So congratulations, Doctor.
Baughn.
We'll now have the presentation of our our honorary degree, and I'd invite father John Hopkins, who is president emeritus of DMU and a and a board member to introduce our speaker.
Arthur Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness.
He's also a columnist at the Atlantic where he writes a popular weekly how to build a life column.
Arthur is the number one best selling author of 13 books, including build your lie build the life you want in 2023, coauthored with Oprah Winfrey, and from strength to strength, finding success, happiness, and deep purpose in the second half of life.
Brooks is one of the world's leading experts on the science of human happiness, appearing in media and traveling the world to teach people in private companies, universities, public agencies, and faith communities how they can live happier lives and bring greater well well-being to others.
Arthur also, of all of these things, is a husband and father who walks the walk.
He is a man of faith.
He is a friend.
And I think I can say he is a true apostle, somebody who is truly trying to change culture for love of Christ.
We are honored today to award Arthur Brooks this honoris causa degree and to invite him to say a few words as our main speaker today.
Thank you, father John.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, president, father Sikorsky, bishop Burbich, bishop Laverde, faculty, staff, trustees, families, and especially graduates.
I'm so grateful to you for inviting me here today to speak to you and and and to receive this honorary degree.
This is something I've been looking forward to because this is a special community.
Congratulations on your achievement, of course, But even more on the work that you're about to do, that beautiful homily by Bishop Burbich talking about the opportunity to lift up other people in need, the the privilege of being able to do so with the expertise that you've gained.
It's now needed more than at any other time in my lifetime at least.
I don't have to tell you about the grim statistics about mental health in America or the world.
A lot of people are in pain.
And that's what you will be seeking to address with your first class training at DMU.
But you're also equipped with more than just competence and psychological science, also with the cross and gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of course, you know this.
But here's my question, really my challenge for the graduates today, but really for all of us.
How do you see yourselves not just as Catholic professionals helping Catholic people, But rather, using your expertise, how can you be missionaries in a secular society?
How can you use what you're excellent at and what the world admires you for and the skills that you've gained to lift people up and take them to heaven.
How does that work?
Well, the truth of the matter is that you're some of the best people to do exactly that.
Why?
The con con celebrants of the mass, they're our, as Catholics, they're our uniformed military.
We're the spies.
We're the secret agents.
We can do a lot because nobody's paying attention when we're talking about the faith and lifting them up.
So what I wanna do in just ten or twelve minutes, because they didn't give me an hour, you're they will all be pleased to know.
How do I do it and how can you do it?
See, my job I'm a behavioral scientist as as well.
I'm not a clinician.
I'm a researcher.
My PhD is in in in research and behavioral science.
But I teach the science of happiness at Harvard University.
I teach large classes of students at the Harvard Business School.
My job is not overt proselytization.
If it were, I would be in the unemployment line in approximately twenty minutes.
But it's still missionary work.
Over the years, I've done missionary work in my ordinary secular work as a scientist by employing three principles that I'm gonna offer you today.
To start your journey as a missionary, here's three ideas.
Number one.
This one sounds easy as not.
Be public about your Catholic faith.
You know, it's easy to be private Catholics.
We're all with our community here, with our pals, people who understand us.
But out in the world, when we're not hanging out together, it's too easy to keep it private.
Isn't it?
A lot of academics do this, by the way.
A lot of my fellow professors around the country.
I do about a 100 lectures outside of Harvard a year.
A lot of them at universities.
And mostly secular institutions and other professors come to me and they say, I'm Catholic too.
As if it were some sort of big secret.
That's not the right way to do it.
Now there's a reason sometimes that being a Catholic, that having an unusual view in a secular world, especially when you're in the world of science, sometimes it's hard to do that.
The reason is not because we face discrimination.
That's just not right.
Thank God we live in America where we are not discriminated against in any material or or serious way for our views, for our beliefs.
The problem is us.
You know this because you've studied this.
The rest of us don't always remember.
Our brains are designed to make us resist standing out against a prevailing view.
The ancient console of tissue inside our brains that processes our emotions is called the limbic system.
It's between two and forty million years ago and it has this little thing inside it.
It's a technical thing.
You don't have to remember this.
There's no quiz later.
It's called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and it has one job to make you not want to be rejected socially.
That was evolved so you will not get thrown out of your tribe.
Why?
Because 250,000 ago, you'd walk the frozen tundra and die alone.
Well, not today, friends.
But we still have the same brain.
And so when the when the world is going this way, we wanna go this way too.
And sometimes we're silent about zagging when the world is zigging.
That's a big problem.
We need to stand up to that.
We need to use the the divine center of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, the executive center of our brain to make the decisions that we want given our beliefs, notwithstanding what we feel because of our evolutionary proclivities.
We have a a divine nature.
That's what it means to be a believing Christian.
Use it.
And the way to use it is by being public about our faith, notwithstanding our feelings.
And getting used to it so that we're not afraid.
And as excellent professionals that gain the admiration of others, that's the most important thing that we can do.
And the result?
Oh, it's funny.
During the lectures that I do publicly, I get to meet a lot of different audiences.
And not that long ago, I was in Georgia giving a talk to a group of surgeons.
Those are tough people.
Surgeons.
Yeah.
I mean, they're smarter than everybody, cooler than everybody, or sophisticated than everybody.
And I was about to go up and give my speech about a neuroscience topic, typical to my research.
But before I did, I crossed myself because I always do to offer up my words For the holy souls in purgatory.
All those surgeons in purgatory.
And afterward, a surgeon comes up to me and he says, I thought he was going to say, oh, I liked your speech.
No.
And he tears in his eyes.
And he said, that was so meaningful to me.
And I said, well, thank you.
What did I say?
He said, that wasn't it.
I say you crossed yourself before you gave your talk.
I wanna do that.
I was raised Catholic.
I've been gone for a long time.
I want that.
I said, man, there's a church on every corner.
It's like Starbucks.
But it takes you to heaven.
And who knows where he is at this point?
Well, why was he evangelized in that moment?
He was evangelized in that moment moment not because of anything I said, but because I was public about my faith.
And we can all do that.
That's number one.
But but it takes a little bit of practice to be public.
And that leads me to my point number two, which is making our faith not just public but natural and normal.
You know, many people who are trying to make a point of being publicly Catholic, unfortunately, they make it a little bit awkward.
It's a little bit in your face.
It's a little bit weird because they try to inject it into every single conversation and it feels sort of forced.
But but here's the funny thing about the naturalness of faith.
Faith is literally the most natural thing in the world for homo sapiens, for our species.
Research shows that humans have a religious instinct.
Many believe it is biological in nature.
I happen to share that view based on the preponderance of evidence.
There are literally no societies recorded in human history that are not religious.
Not one.
We are made to worship.
That's the truth.
You know what's unnatural?
Secularism.
That's unnatural.
That's the most unnatural thing that people can turn to.
And that's the reason, my friends, that people all over the world turn to non religious things to get their religion.
Secularism has torqued us away from the natural to the unnatural because we have this instinct.
Things like politics and social activism.
They're characterized today by talk about good and evil and with esoteric language and with ritual.
All we need on campus for their politics is to have incense, then we'll have it all.
But fake religion doesn't get the job done, my friends.
That's why politics and activism, when they become an identity, always, always, always lead to depression unnatural?
And the reason is because the world has path unnatural?
And the reason is because the world has pathologized the natural and normal and has normalized the pathological.
That's the little trick of the dark one in our world today.
We see this all around us.
Your faith, oh, it's weird and funny but shocking and immoral and bad things.
No big deal.
Right?
Cruelty, greed, licentiousness, death.
Normal.
But going to mass at lunch on Wednesday?
Really weird.
So so what's the answer?
The answer is to make it as the most natural thing in your life.
Here's how I do it in my classes and in my talks.
I have made a commitment that I will not neglect to say at least once in every public appearance that my Catholic faith is the most important thing in my life.
And I just throw it out there.
Oh, and by the way, when I'm talking about faith, I'm a Catholic.
It happens to be the most important thing in my life.
Normal.
I could have mass.
I also breathe air and eat food and wear pants out in public.
Although, you wouldn't really know if I'm not right now, would you?
You know, it's so natural, as a matter of fact, that when people come up to me and say, oh, how brave that you're a public Catholic at a place like Harvard University down the world, as if I were, chief rabbi in Mecca or something.
No.
How could I live any other way?
Make it natural.
And last but not least, here's my last point.
Make your faith magnetic because that turns out to be the master stroke.
You're doing it in public.
You're making it natural and you draw people to you because of your faith.
We are, if you haven't noticed, in a pretty serious culture war in this country.
If you haven't noticed it, congratulations.
It means you don't watch TV at night or participate in social media, but it's pretty bad.
Worse than I've seen.
Now why do we participate in that as Catholics with the the bitterness, the contempt, the anger, the hatred across political lines, across ideological lines.
And the reason is, once again, our brains make us do that.
When we are threatened, there's a part of our brain called the amygdala that says fight or flight.
When When somebody disagrees with us ideologically.
When somebody says a nasty thing about our Catholic faith, it lights up our amygdala like a Christmas tree.
And it says, fight now.
And how do we fight?
We fight using the tools that people are using against us and then we're not behaving like Catholics.
You know the best way to eviscerate your faith and make it repellent to the outside world?
Act like they do.
That's the best way to do it.
So so so what do we do?
What's the answer?
People ask that all the time.
And here's the typical answer.
Be civil.
Be tolerant.
That's garbage.
If I told you that my wife Esther and I are civil to each other, you'd say, dude, you guys need therapy from a graduate of Divine Mercy University.
If I told you that my employees tolerate me, you'd say I have a huge human resource problem on my hands.
No.
That's not the standard.
You know what the standard is?
Taught a long time ago.
You've heard that you should love your friends and hate your enemies.
But today I give you a new teaching.
Love your enemies.
Pray for those who persecute you.
My friends, that's the Catholic standard.
That's the Christian life.
That is the privilege that Bishop Berbich was talking about.
You're out in a tough world lifting people up.
A lot of those people are participating in behavior that does not become us as Catholic people.
They disagree with you.
They're doing the wrong thing.
Love them.
That's what we're learning to do as scientists, as Catholics.
No.
As Catholic scientists.
But I don't feel like it.
I know.
It doesn't matter.
Because that's not what love is.
Saint Thomas Aquinas said in December in the Summa Theologia, to love is to will the good of the other, not feel anything.
You did not study people's feelings, only people's feelings.
You studied how people can actually be not withstanding their feelings.
People don't have to be managed by their feelings.
They can manage their feelings in the way to do so is to exercise their heavenly will.
That's what Saint Thomas Aquinas was talking about.
That's the lesson he was giving us for psychological science today.
He was a very adroit behavioral scientist himself.
Love your enemies by willing their good.
Love everybody by willing their good.
Catholic missionaries in ordinary life decide how to act despite their emotions.
Return contempt and disagreement with love.
And what you will do is make people ask how did she do that?
How did he do that?
And then they'll find that it's because of your Christian faith.
And then that's what they will want, which is your gift to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and get souls to heaven.
That's all we want.
Let me sum up.
We are called in our ordinary lives to sanctify our work as missionaries.
You don't have to leave your secular job or knock on doors.
You don't have to be that kind of missionary.
Look.
There's here's words that nobody in human history has ever uttered.
Good news.
There's missionaries on the porch.
No.
Never.
But but but you don't have to because you're sneak you're sneakier than that.
Right?
You're doing excellent work in helping people.
That's your missionary work.
And to do that, follow a formula to sanctify that secular work by making your faith public, by making it natural, by making it magnetic.
Strive to follow that formula as you go forth from this great institution, and you will begin the journey of love and excellence and truth, which will bring you and me and all of us greater happiness and greater hope and greater holiness.
God bless you.
Congratulations on this achievement.
And let's all pray for the graduates for their important work.
Thank you very much.
We have reached the point in the ceremony at which degrees are to be conferred.
The university's degree granting authority is contained in the charter granted to Divine Mercy University by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
And I quote, as of 01/18/2000, the state councilor of higher education for Virginia grants approval to Divine Mercy University to confer academic and professional degrees.
We will now recognize the degree candidates for the master of science in counseling program.
Will the following please come forward to take your place for the conferral of degrees?
Doctor Eric Perry, program director, and father Charles Sikorsky, university president.
Will the graduates please stand and come forward?
The faculty have certified that each candidate has completed all requirements.
The university is pleased to confer degrees to our graduates of the master of science in counseling program.
As I call your name, please come forward.
Sister Teresa Adewobi.
Haley Arndt.
Catherine Atwell, Alyssa Balderas Martinez, Maria BG.
Jennifer Bishop Milano, Penina Boros, Kristen Brown, father Raymond Bueno, father David Bustamante, sister Gianna Casino, Mary Teresa Donahoe.
James Elsinger.
Suzanne Hamdi.
Amalia Hanson, Emily Jackson.
Rachel Johnson, Mariana Kajariwal, Aaron Lofi, Claire Menes, Dylis Minang.
Jacob Minang.
Benjamin Mitchell.
Eileen Munoz.
Maria Osborne.
Adrian Remmert, Madeline Robertson, Catherine Scheidler.
Rebecca Six.
Emily Stucker.
Sarah Subler.
Teresa Tulpa, Mary Ame Ubaru, Joshua Urutia, Margaret Wagner.
Youngjay Yang.
We also include in abstentia, Krista Brown, Joshua Calhoun, Leah Chen, Angela Coleman, John Collins, Savannah Courteau, Mary Elizabeth Darling, Ludivine DeCampberg, Steven Duran, Grace Fanning, Ryan Francisco, Johanna Fuentes Murillo, Jana Claire Garza, Brandy Graves, Samuel Hajis, Carrie Hall, Erin Hartman, Joshua Hernandez Guerrero, Margaret Hudak, Thomas Keller, Krista Long, Susanna Matlon, Liana Merrill, Claire Shepherdson, Duncan t Meyer, Mary Ruth Traver, Leanne Veach, Katie Villareal, Sarah Howells, Amy Walsh, Perry West, Colby Young.
Will the graduates please stand?
Graduates, you may now move your tassel from the right to the left.
Let us congratulate our master of science in counseling.
We will now recognize the degree candidates for the master of psychology program.
Will doctor Julia Clousely, program director of the master of science in psychology, please come forward to take your place for the conferral of degrees?
Will the graduates please come forward?
The university is pleased to confer degrees to our graduates of the master of science in psychology program.
As I call your name, please come forward.
Father Robert Abatasarabi.
Joseph Bocook.
Christine Casabianca, Alisa Daley.
Patricia Della Tawada.
Laura Esposito.
Juliana Glaskova, Marchine Klinsky.
Father Brian Holton, Kejian Innes, father Abraham Lucas, Asha Melville.
Madeline Pereira.
Daniel Schramm.
Father Jason Smith, Matthew Stewart, Leonardo Suano Negrini.
Father Jacob Thomas, We also include an abstention, sister Janet Engala, Cassandra Baber, Lorena Bernal Mendoza, father Marco Carrasco, Yesenia Castillo, Gina Galassi, father Joao Paulo Garcia, father John Henry Hansen, sister Grace Heinrich, Chad Hemsoth, Shadia Umaran, father Pito Idowu, Jessica Imson, father Nicholas Klemier, Lindita Khomani, Justin Liner, Deacon Mike McGrady, Helen Jane Maroney, Colin Petrowski, Kimberly Solti, sister Mariella Stodden, father Daniel Schwartz, Tracy Taylor, Marie von Rudin, father Daniel Zeria Garza.
Will the graduates please stand?
Graduates, you may now move your tassel from the right to the left.
Let us congratulate our graduates.
We will now recognize the degree candidates for the master of psychology program.
Will the follow-up please come forward and take your place for the conferral of degrees?
Doctor Lisa Kowicki, Dean for the Institute for the Psychological Sciences and director of the doctor of psychology in clinical psychology program, and doctor Helena Orianna, director of clinical training for this ID program.
Will the graduates please come forward?
The university is pleased to confer degrees to our graduates of the master of psychology.
As I call your name, please come forward.
Sarah Marie Alemangohan.
Amelia Becerra.
Tiffany Blanco.
Joshua Elmore.
Gabrielle Gum.
Elizabeth Willis.
Marcus Lines, Brit Lloyd.
Andrea Peter.
Matthew Ronconi.
Gabriela Rueloba Portilla.
Will the master of psychology graduates please stand?
Graduates, you may now move your tassel from the right to the left.
Let us congratulate our graduates.
We will now recognize the degree candidates for the doctor of psychology in clinical psychology.
Will the graduates please come forward?
The university is pleased to confer degrees to our graduates of the doctor of psychology in clinical psychology degree.
The candidates' dissertation chair will preside at the conferral of their degree and the title of their dissertation will be read.
As I call your name, please come forward.
Jonathan Baggett.
The need for a psychologically informed emotional healing prayer intervention for people who self identify as Catholic, a literature review focusing on psychological science, human needs, and diversity.
Dissertation chair by doctor Anna Pecoraro.
Eniola King.
Yeah.
A mixed methods exploration of hope in suicide prevention amongst black women.
Chaired by doctor Rebecca Morse.
Isaiah Lam.
Attachment to God in low income populations, chaired by doctor Suzanne Hallman.
Julianne Winn.
Hope versus hopeless.
The experience of grief related to sibling incarceration.
Chaired by doctor Rebecca Morse.
Matthew Winn.
Catholic anthropology enhances religious education in high schoolers, implication for program development.
Chaired by doctor Lisa Kawicki.
Daniel Isaac Paris.
All things in moderation, the effects of a media fast on mobile phone habits, self control, well-being, and interpersonal competence in emerging adults.
Chaired by doctor Rebecca Morse.
Chelsea Smith.
A developmental and behavioral explanation of the relationship between feeling worthy and binge eating behavior.
Is food filling a void of relationality according to the CCMMP?
Chaired by doctor Rebecca Morse.
William Johnston.
Combat post traumatic stress disorder as complex and considerations for future treatment of combat complex PTSD, chaired by doctor Phil Scraffani.
Christopher Tappell.
Shame and trauma in the body, grounded theory content analysis, chaired by doctor Anna Pecoraro.
Will the doctor of psychology graduates please stand?
Graduates, you may now move your tassel from the right to the left.
Let us congratulate our graduates.
Father Charles, DMU faculty, family and friends, and honored guests, it is my great joy and honor to present the class of 2025.
Since our foundation in 1999, Divine Mercy University has conferred seven eighty one master's graduates and 112 doctoral graduates.
In the pursuit of their vocation to heal, our growing number of alumni are making an impact in the field of psychology, in the culture, in the church, and in the world.
This ever expanding reach of the mission is truly inspiring.
To mark and recognize this history, the university presents the distinguished alumni award to a graduate who has made significant contributions to society and whose accomplishments, affiliations and career have honored the legacy of excellence of their alma mater.
Recipients of this award are accomplished in the following areas.
Professional achievement, leadership, service to the community, and faithful advancement of the mission and vision of the university.
It is with great pride and joy that we present the 2025 distinguished alumni award to mother Mary Conchepta, class of 2015.
On 06/01/2023, Mother Mary Conchafta was elected as the second superior general of the Sisters of Life.
The Sisters of Life were founded by John Cardinal O'Connor in 1991, entrusted with the charism and mission to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
Mother Mary Concepta worked as a cardiac nurse before entering the Sisters of Life in 2003.
Prior to her election as superior general, she served as the local superior of the Visitation Mission in New York City.
She also helped to found the community's mission in Denver, Colorado and served there for seven years in a mission of evangelization to college students.
Before being missioned to Denver, she completed a master's in clinical psychology at the Institute for Psychological Sciences.
Mother Mary Concepta is a true representative of distinguished alumni with significant contributions to the field of psychology and constant dedication to the mission and vision of the university.
We are honored to present Mother Mary Concepter with this award.
Mother Mary Concepter, please come forward.
Well, good afternoon and congratulations.
Most especially to the graduates, graduates and to all your family and friends gathered here today.
I warmly greet your excellencies, Bishop Burbridge and Bishop Laverde and esteemed honorees and trustees that are with us.
And I thank you father Sikorsky and all of your faculty and staff for this kind honor.
Thank you so much.
It's a blessing to be here having graduated now ten years ago from what was then known as the Institute for Psychological Sciences.
And I'm very grateful for that time of study and the great deepening in my understanding of the human person, body, mind, and soul.
Every bit of my education has assisted me with ever greater depth and capacity to live the charism of the sisters of life, to protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life, which is our fourth vow.
Each of you graduating here today has given yourself to a healing profession.
You desire for each person entrusted to your care the full flourishing of their humanity.
And this is evident in the very name of your institution and according to its mission statement, which was mentioned to you by Bishop Burbage, that the university is dedicated to the renewal of the Catholic Christian intellectual tradition and the integration of the theoretical and empirical basis of psychology with a Catholic view of the human person, which makes a unique contribution in today's world of psychology.
It goes on to say that we view reality and each person as a gift.
We recognize the primacy of God's gift, which humanity is invited to receive and to give in turn.
Therefore, we seek to promote and participate in an authentic culture of life at the university and in the broader culture.
And the sisters of life are so happy to be coworkers in the vineyard with you in building a culture of life one heart at a time.
We affirm like you that the human being has been created in the image of God and so every person has transcendent dignity.
And so in upholding this sacred dignity, you will be instrumental in helping people to pick up the pieces of their scattered lives.
It is an honor, a gift, and also a sorrow to hear stories of pain.
Yet it is also a wonder to allow the lord to draw us into his own work of transformation, to be a facilitator of his ordering, restoring, and healing work in another human person.
What a sacred entrustment that each of you have been given and that you have fully received.
God trusts you to assist the person before you from darkness to light, from disorder to order, from bondage to freedom, and you are not alone in this great work.
I have taken our blessed mother Mary as my model and guide in the gift and privilege that it is to accompany those whose lives and hearts may be broken in pieces.
She invites me and each of us to to stand with her at the foot of the cross of another suffering, pain, and confusion and to hold that person with our hearts as she held tenderly the broken body of Christ imaged in Michelangelo's Pieta.
We collaborate with her who shares in the mission of Christ the divine healer as she embraces all of God's suffering children as her very own.
And she does not fear wounds, our own or those of others.
Rather, Mary lives in hope and can see in them already within the full potential of each person the promise of glory.
At the Easter vigil, the priest celebrant prepares the paschal candle and says, by his holy and glorious wounds, may Christ the lord guard us and protect us.
By his holy and glorious wounds, may Christ the Lord guard us and protect us.
Christ does not prevent us from being wounded.
He himself suffered every wound possible to save us.
He references our wounds and by them draws us close in intimacy to himself.
Within the mystery of his being, his his own glorified wounds sir will serve to guide and protect us.
Our wounds are held in his and our wounds are healed in his.
Only he can transform our brokenness into glory through the redeeming power of his love poured into the entirety of our stories.
Through your studies, you have been given the human tools to help others embrace the truth of their story, of who they most deeply are and created to become, to be freed from the lies in which they may have lived and to begin to see themselves as God sees them.
And in the words of Cardinal O'Connor, who's the founder of the Sisters of Life and a great champion of the sacredness of human life, he says to you, you have to see that you are the pearl of great price of which our lord speaks, that you are made in his image and likeness.
The whole world is in you.
You have the whole world is in you, that same sunlight that played in Eden.
And Christ walks with you and talks with you.
And Christ brought you into being in his image and likeness because he loves you for you, not for your talents, not for your potential, not for any money you may have, not for your educational experience even.
He loves you for you.
When we begin to see the whole story of a person, we are overcome by the unspeakable glory of each human soul.
This work you have entered upon is very arduous, of course, yet the promise of Easter brings certain hope.
We have a savior who has descended into the dead to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
And like the first apostles, we are called to be witnesses to the resurrection, to the reality that Christ can come into the messiness of any life and transform it with his grace.
In Christ, suffering is transformed by love and into love.
This year as Sisters of Life, we're also celebrating a twenty fifth anniversary of our founder Cardinal O'Connor's passing.
And in time, we hope we'll have a biography and a documentary to present to the world, so stay tuned for that.
But I leave you with his words.
I see in each one of you whatever may have been our your past, whatever your circumstances at the moment, the reflection of the sacred, the image and likeness of almighty God.
I see you as sacred persons to be loved, persons of priceless dignity and worth.
Indeed, I may very well see you as being far better persons than some of you may see yourselves to be.
To underestimate you is to underestimate God, for each of you is sparked with his divinity.
I pray that the Lord blesses each of you with a humility and contemplative gaze to receive the person before you always as a gift and to stand in awe and wonder before a mystery that is being revealed.
This will infuse every encounter with authentic delight and the joy of discovery.
May the Holy Spirit guide you through all your gifts of nature, grace, and hard earned knowledge and skills in leading others to full flourishing in love and in life.
Thank you and God bless you.
So as we celebrate our twenty fifth anniversary, the founding of the Institute for the Psychological Science, which is now Divine Mercy University, we're proud to present three lifetime achievement awards.
It's an honor that recognizes individuals whose enduring commitment and foundational contributions have helped shape the identity and direction of our university.
I would say more than that.
We wouldn't be here without the next three people you're gonna, you won't hear from them all, but who we're gonna honor.
Their leadership, vision, and dedication during the institution's formative years continue to influence us today.
It's with deep respect that we acknowledge these founding members for their leading impact.
First, we welcome bishop Paul S.
Laverde, bishop Emeritus of the diocese of Arlington.
Bishop Laverde is a founding board member whose leadership and commitment had played a key role in the the in the foundation and development of the university.
Back in 1999, it was his first year as bishop here, and, doctor Sweeney, who you're gonna meet, and father Richard Gill was the president.
He went to tell him they had this idea.
I want to get permission to start the university.
And he could have said, go ahead.
You have permission.
You know?
And good luck because this is a big arduous task you're going to be doing.
Right?
How are you going to build this big university?
He not only approved it, he became a partner.
And we really want to recognize Bishop Divertti for that and thank him so much for what he's done throughout the years.
At an early age in his pre study, he realized the need for our graduates, the need for, mental health professionals who he could recommend to so many people he was seeing in his ministry.
So, I'd like to present right now this first award to Bishop Paul Laverde.
Our second recipient is a faculty member who's been here from the very beginning for twenty five years.
And we want to recognize his service, his dedication, and really doing whatever was necessary throughout the years.
Doctor Bill Nordling, doctor William Nordling, a member of the founding faculty, and he's helped shape our academic programs.
He's one of the co editors of the meta model CCMMP.
He's former program director, former dean, and doctor Nordling was had a promising career, in marital therapy, in child therapy.
Loves to write, but so many times he had to do sacrificial things for the mission to make to make the school grow.
Whatever was needed for our students, for our growth, for accreditation, Bill was always there to stand up and and and do whatever it took.
And so we recognize him today with this lifetime achievement award.
Bill.
So, our mission is providential.
And, there's no question that this institution, God God has been has blessed it over the years.
His providence, the holy spirit has been the driving force behind it all.
However, the one person we would truly would not be here without is doctor Gladys Sweeney.
Doctor Gladys Sweeney was the leader, the impulse who accepted God's call, saw the importance for this mission, and got things moving.
There's so many things you could say about it.
We're gonna hear from her.
She's gonna come up and speak.
But just a little bit about her background.
Doctor Sweeney grew up in in Chile.
She received her bachelor's, from the Universidad Catolica de Chile, a master's and PhD in counseling psychology from Pennsylvania State University.
She was a faculty member in the division of child psychiatric department of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
She consulted in hospitals and gave training seminars at numerous institutions.
She's taught at the Pontifical University Regina Pastelorum in Rome and served as a pastoral counseling instructor at the North American College Seminary in Rome.
She's written and lectured on topics related to the integration of psychology and the Catholic faith.
She retired back in 2013 and lives with her husband in Southern Maryland right now.
But she left that all behind because she had this dream and this vision of what could be done in this field and the need to blend Catholic faith, Catholic understanding of a person with psychological skills.
And so it's a great honor and it's very humbling, for me today and a joy to present to you and to present the award to doctor Gladys Sweeney lifetime achievement award.
This is a wonderful, wonderful Mother's Day present for me to see all those graduates.
We started with 12.
Your excellencies, Bishop Berberge, Your Excellency Bishop Laverge, Father Charles, members of the Board of Directors, Professor Brooks, my dear good old friend, Bill Nordling, faculty of Divine Mercy University, dear graduates, and students, and families.
With profound gratitude and humility, I accept this Lifetime Achievement Award from Divine Mercy University.
It will always remind, remind me of God's providential designs and omnipotent powers that far exceed all human efforts.
God, in his infinite mercy, inspired and blessed the Institute for the Psychological Sciences and its mission to ground psychology with the Catholic view of the human person.
Furthermore, God showered his blessings and poured out his grace in IPS development into Divine Mercy University that flourished under the legionaries of Christ, and Father Charles, and Father John Hopkins, and Father Richard, three presidents.
It is in God's providential design that DMU become a beacon of hope for all those who struggle, as well as a gift to the church for various pastoral and vocational areas.
My heart is full of gratitude to God for allowing me to play a part in its development.
I recognize his grace at every stage of the develop early developments of IPS, but especially in inspiring me not to get in the way of its design.
That was always my motto.
If God wants it, let's go.
And trust in his ways.
In current times, as we all know, there's a tremendous need in all people to find love and meaning in their lives, which has manifested itself in an unprecedented mental health crisis.
The accelerated development of technology and social media has exacerbated the problem.
But I think what is most needed today, more than anything, and, Bishop Burbisch beautifully expressed sister, mother, something the same way, is the message of love and hope.
And psychotherapists and counselors are in a privileged position, in a privileged position to provide such a message to suffering souls.
So, what I would like to do today is to encourage all of you, students, graduates of Divine Mercy University, to allow yourself to be missionaries of love for the souls that you're helping.
I believe that every therapeutic encounter is not random.
I believe it's providential, and that you personify, you are in, you have God's love for you, and you should transmit that to your clients.
And, I want you to to see them beyond the diagnostic categories, this person is such and such.
To see them as God sees them.
To help them find meaning in their struggles, and to give them hope.
Now, oftentimes, therapists cannot eliminate the struggles and the sufferings of their clients, but they can help them find meaning in it.
There's a beautiful example that I'm going to quote from, and it's a book written by Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning.
But he described this process beautifully, and I think it applies to us Catholic therapists.
Quote, Once an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression.
He could not overcome the loss of his wife, who had died two years before and whom he had loved above all else.
Now, how could I help him?
What should I tell him?
Well, I refrained from telling anything, but instead confronted him with a question.
What would have happened, doctor, if you had died first and your wife would have had to survive you?
Oh, he said, for her, this would have been terrible.
How she would have suffered?
Whereupon I replied, You see, doctor, such suffering has been spared her, and it was you who has spared her this suffering, to be sure, at a price that now you have to survive her and mourn her.
He didn't say a word, but shook my hand and kindly left my office.
This man was even ready to was even ready to suffer on the condition that his suffering had a meaning.
In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of sacrifice.
Unquote.
So the love of this grieving husband had for his wife gave meaning to his grief, and he was able to transcend it.
And I believe that the greatest path to finding meaning in life's travels is through love.
As DMU graduates, psychotherapists, counselors, you bring to the souls you encounter the up to date scientific knowledge of psychology.
You are, that's what DMU does, gives you all of that, plus the hope and love in the redeemer that thirsts and awaits for every soul that you encounter in a therapeutic session.
He's he wants their freedom.
He wants their healing as much as you do, or more than you do.
And you are his instrument, the providential instrument at that moment, to transmit it.
And if you transmit it, when you get to heaven, you might see all the souls that you have touched with the love of Christ.
So go forward then, missionaries of love, with holy enthusiasm, blind faith, always trusting in his providence.
Heal with the love of Christ.
That's your mission.
I would like to close with the word of Psalm 65.
You visit the earth and water it.
Make it abundantly fertile.
God's strength is filled with water.
You supplying their grain.
Thus do you prepare it.
You drench its plowed pharaohs and level its and level its ridges.
With showers, you keep it soft, blessing its young sprouts.
You adorn the year with your bounty.
Your path drips with fruitful rain.
The meadows of the wilderness also drip.
The hills are robed with joy.
The pastures are clothed with flocks.
The valleys blanketed with rain.
They cheer for sing and joy.
That's how much God has blessed IPS DMU.
How grateful we must all be for his graces.
I pray that his blessing to DMU and the visionaries of Christ continue for decades and centuries to come, as well as for his important mission of educating missionaries of life, of love.
Thank you.
So, it's been my pleasure to announce our final award.
Okay.
And, there's no talk after this one, so we'll be finishing in a second, then we'll have the final blessing.
But, every year we like to honor one of we have the president's service award, which is to honor a faculty or staff member who's gone beyond the call of duty, to carry out the mission.
And it means a lot to be able to recognize him during this graduation.
The recipient is selected annually by the president, after nomination from faculty and staff, to recognize a member of the community whom he believes consistently works to further the mission through selfless service to the institution.
This year's president's service award is awarded to doctor or professor Jessie Tappell.
She has worked for DMU.
She's worked after graduating from the master's in in clinical psychology program, she's worked for DMU since the fall of twenty thirteen in a variety of positions.
And currently is the associate program director for the clinical mental health health counseling program, as well as clinical faculty for the counseling program.
She's also, as I said, she graduated from the IPS back in 2014.
Jesse's qualities and unwavering dedication to the mission of DMU make her a worthy recipient of the president's service award.
Highly organized and capable of juggling multiple tasks at once, Jesse brings warmth and laughter to every situation and to her relationships with faculty, staff, and students.
Her creativity and problem solving skills shine above big picture planning and day to day challenges.
Jesse, please come forward.
And and I forgot to tell you, she's going to be getting married soon and she'll be moving out to California, but she will remain working for the counseling Let us stand for the closing blessing.
In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Father of all mercies, you are present in our midst today with your love and your power.
You look with joy on each person created out of love and called to love.
So we thank you for the gift of each one of our graduating students on this memorable day.
As they step forward to continue following the pathway of life wherever it may lead, we ask you to pour out your blessing upon them.
May they undertake the mission of healing with their gaze ever fixed on the merciful face of your wounded and risen son.
May they in turn glimpse the face of Jesus in the countenance of each person you bring them to encounter.
Draw all of our graduates to seek you, recognize you, and radiate your love to each of their brothers and sisters as they lead them to a place of healing and wholeness.
May they be instruments of your divine mercy, binding the wounds of a frail and fallen humanity.
We ask all of these blessings through the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary and the merits of your son, Jesus Christ, who is Lord forever and ever.
Amen.
And may Almighty God bless each and every one of you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
This now concludes the 2025 commencement exercises.
Please remain in your seat until graduates have exited the church.
Thank you and congratulations to the class of 2025.