Marking the start of the academic year at The Catholic University of America by celebrating a Mass of the Holy Spirit Sept. 2, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory urged students at the university to “spend this next year engaged in speaking and living the truth.”

 “The truth will mean that first of all you reject anything that will destroy the sense of unity that must be present in our university…  the truth that Jesus wishes you to live this year is found in your willingness to see one another as brothers, sisters and friends,” the cardinal said. “The truth is the reality that means that there are more things that make you one family than reasons that would make you strangers, and only lies make you feel that you are foes.”

 The cardinal – who by virtue of being the archbishop of Washington is also chancellor of Catholic University  – was the principal celebrant of the Mass that was offered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is located next to the university. About three dozen priests concelebrated.

 The Mass, which was televised by the Eternal Word Television Network and streamed on CatholicTV.org, was attended by faculty, staff, students, religious men and women and others.

In his homily, Cardinal Gregory encouraged the students at the Mass to “build a better city and communities than your parents might ever dreamt would be possible.”

“The truth is that our Catholic faith and Christian principles are stronger bonds than are all of the differences that distinguish us,” he said. “Today, we pray that this year will be a year of the truth for this university.”

He also urged the students to be “young people filled with a spirit of courage and truth this year and every year of your lives.”

“Without the Spirit of God, we would all be too weak to live God's truth, but with the Spirit, we can all be people who live that wonderful truth which comes from God, that we are intended to live as friends in hope and in trust,” Cardinal Gregory said.  

The annual Mass marks the official start of the academic year, and is a tradition that dates back to the universities of medieval Europe.

“Traditionally, Catholic schools begin the new academic year with a Mass of the Holy Spirit to ask the Lord to send that same Spirit of truth upon our learning and upon our teaching during the coming year,” Cardinal Gregory said. “We begin this new school term with a request that we speak the truth to one another in love during this coming year.”

Reminding the students that “all of us want to be people of truth, none of us want to live lies,” the cardinal warned that “living the truth can be dangerous. Living the truth can make us unpopular.”

“Being people of the truth will take courage and determination.  That is why Jesus promised that he would ask the Father to send us the Spirit of truth,” Cardinal Gregory said.

Referencing CUA’s School of Law, Cardinal Gregory noted that “many of you at Mass today perhaps are now enrolled in our law school.”

“A good lawyer can be a wonderful helper in a difficult situation,” he said. “This spirit of truth that God has sent to Jesus's disciples speaks in our favor … God has sent the community of believers the best of all attorneys to encourage us to speak and to live the truth.”

After the Mass, John Garvey, Catholic University’s president, called the Mass “a chance to thank God for what the new semester holds.”

Noting the social distancing and virtual classes that were held last year at the university due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Garvey said, “It’s good to be together again” and urged the students to “see the beauty in ordinary things … that we cannot often see on Zoom.”

“Today we begin another semester at CUA, my advice to you is cherish the real things and find the beauty in them,” he said. “The beauty around you will nourish your soul, make you happy, and more importantly, make you appreciate God.”