It is an honor and a pleasure for me as a Spiritan and also as a graduate of Duquesne to be with you to celebrate this Eucharist today, which marks the beginning of the new academic year in this special year as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Spiritan Province of the United States in 1872. I am deeply grateful to my Spiritan confreres, the University Leadership, and the entire Duquesne community for the invitation to participate in this important event. 

I welcome Bishop David Zubik with special affection and fraternal gratitude: Bishop, your presence is not only an act of friendship and support for Duquesne University, but it also honors the entire Congregation of the Holy Spirit, and more specifically, the Spiritan Province of the United States. Bishop, thank you for being with us today!
I feel privileged to be here today and share this moment with the whole University community. I welcome the students and their parents, in a special way, I welcome the incoming freshmen class, the class of 2022, including all of you from every state in the America and so many other countries around the world. I also extend a warm welcome to all of you who are joining us through the kindness of social media.  

It is good to be together in faith at the beginning of this academic year to thank God for the gifts of creation and salvation and to seek the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit in the coming year. Fr. Francis Marie-Paul Libermann, a second founder of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans), who brought a renewed spiritual energy to the Spiritans family that transformed our Congregation, developed throughout his life, a great confidence in Providence and a sense of the Holy Spirit directing human affairs. This year, in a special way, we implore the Holy Spirit to immerse our entire lives, and not simply to help us get through the rigors of academia.

Dear Friends, as we celebrate the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the readings for the liturgy for this Mass underscore the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as our teacher and our memory.  

The words of Jesus to his disciples in today’s gospel are reassuring to us about the role of the Holy Spirit as our teacher and our memory: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you (bring to your memory) everything I have said to you” (Jn 14:26). Jesus promises His disciples in the upper room that the Holy Spirit will teach them all things, He would enable and equip them to remember, imitate the life of the Master and apply His teaching. He wants them to remember that He remains with them and they with Him. The Holy Spirit becomes the point of connection between Jesus and all of His followers, including ourselves. 

Every human person, as we heard in the second reading, is sealed by God with the promised Holy Spirit. By giving us the Holy Spirit, God seals or stamps us as his own, to act justly in all that we do, and to give life to others. For us today, the Holy Spirit enables us to understand and live out God’s Word as we follow Jesus, and He brings to our remembrance “the word planted in us” (James 1:21). The Holy Spirit's role is to reveal that which Christ has already taught. Godly guidance through the Holy Spirit strengthens the truths of His Word (1 Corinthians 4:6–7). How nicely the Holy Spirit connects the past to the present and propels us into the future with the seven gifts for our lives here on earth.

In the first reading, Prophet Isaiah speaks of the Spirit of God resting on God’s anointed. He outlines 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit that connect us to God—Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. These gifts were necessary at the time Isaiah prophesied because there was despair about the future: The Kingdom of Judah was under obstruction by foreign powers and her trust in the power of God was vanishing. The promised gifts of the Holy Spirit were to help them to keep the memories of God’s works of power in the past alive and provide encouragement for them that God was still able to defend in the future. The gifts are created characteristics in a human being, but they do not of themselves lead us to the corresponding virtuous actions. Rather, the gifts make us receptive to the working of the Holy Spirit – God Himself – in our minds and hearts to help us to act well. 

This academic year, we seek to study the many disciplines of Arts and Sciences, of Business and Management, of Nursing and Health Care, of Education and Law, Catholic Studies, Theology through the guidance of the Holy Spirit as our teacher and our memory. When we call on the Holy Spirit into our lives, He comes with force to help us to face different challenges, whether in the classroom or in whatever situation we might find ourselves. We are all aware that if the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil; if the Lord does not instruct the hearts, in vain the teachers teach... And so, as we celebrate the Mass of the Holy Spirit, we place ourselves completely in the hand of God, asking the Holy Spirit to be with the whole of the University community: all who study here, all who teach here, all who work here to be able to see the presence of God in the world and within the subject matter we deal with.

Duquesne University motto: “It is the Spirit Who gives Life.” (John 6.63), Spiritus est qui vivicat, expressed well the centrality of the Holy Spirit as the giver of knowledge and life. To educate the disadvantaged and the excluded and to promote an inclusive vision of society beyond the boundaries of gender, color or religion is to give life to every human person created in God’s image. The focus is on balancing the pursuit of knowledge with a search for meaning, to ensure that knowledge and technological advancements are used for the good of individuals and human society. Duquesne's educational activity, therefore, aims at forming the whole person, offering students life-changing academic and cultural experiences, preparing students both intellectually and spiritually to broaden their minds, discover the good in them, and how important that good in them is for the world, and it gives them the opportunities to think ‘otherwise’, and focus on a life of service to others. 

The mission of Spiritans, through Duquesne University, is to prepare students imbued with the Spirit of which Isaiah prophesies in our first reading. At Duquesne University, we are aware that our students need FORTITUDE/STRENGTH to face whatever life throws at them; they need WISDOM to discern the meaning of life; they require KNOWLEDGE to join forces with God to transform our world for the better; they desire COUNSEL to be led aright; they demand UNDERSTANDING to fathom the will of God; and the FEAR of the Lord that will keep them faithful and consistent, when the going gets tough! When our students appropriate these gifts of the Holy Spirit, they become unstoppable as architects of a better future for all. 

The votive Mass of the Holy Spirit we celebrate today underscores also our sense of gratitude to God who sustains us through his Eucharistic body and blood. We want to manifest our gratitude to our pioneer Spiritan missionaries who came to the United States, 150 years ago, to give their lives in service of their sisters and brothers through the founding of this great University, and for their spiritual labors in parish ministries. Today is also an opportunity for us to thank the current Spiritans, staff, students, and parents of students through whose sacrifices Duquesne University continues to carry out its mission of educating future generations to become architects of a robust faith, pragmatic shapers of our world and resilient human beings ready to take on the enormous challenges that our world throws at us. It is our conviction that God who has brought us this far will continue to lead and guide us to something new for the future. And all we have to do is to make ourselves available and to be attentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit as God continues to do something new in each of us and in this University.

On this day, may we pray that the labors of our deceased missionaries, pastors, teachers, staff, faculty, administrators, students, parents, and Alumni, may merit them a place of rest and peace with God. We also pray that God will continue to sustain the present crop of Spiritan missionaries in the United States and elsewhere, and all who work and contribute to the continued existence of Duquesne University. To the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother, we entrust this new academic year: may she guide our steps, may she make this year’s academic activities fruitful. Amen!