His closing statement to our graduates is an appropriate way to mark the end of 2018 and to embrace, as he said to our graduates, “the stewardship of starting all over again.”
Amidst the brokenness all around us, and sometimes even within us, we are summoned today to be faithful to God’s calling. We are to be steadfast, persevering in discipleship so as to bear witness to the beauty, the light, and the divine reality that we shall forever enjoy in heaven. We are called to do this in a culture that seems, at times, fragile and beset by dangers we cannot predict. You will not do this perfectly—you will fail, as all human beings do—but reach out and claim the promise of God’s forgiveness. Reach out and accept the gift of a new beginning, the stewardship of starting all over again.
The world is better because, through God’s grace, we may accept the gift of a new beginning.