The World Needs What You Are

 

Homily for CKA Baccalaureate Mass

May 30, 2025

The World Needs Who You Are

 

            What is success? What does it look like? We have had many towering scholars in the history of the church – Aquinas, Anselm, Bonaventure, Augustine. We have had many saints who have built enduring movements – St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. We have had many saints whose lives impacted thousands – St. Francis Xavier, Mother Teresa. And perhaps some of us are called to change history, to impact the world. Perhaps some of us will be remembered long after our death for our contributions, the memorials we have built, the mighty deeds we accomplished, the brilliant words we have spoken.

            But I would hazard to guess that the vast majority of Christians are called to live a hidden life, unfamous and unknown. Most of us will not have a Wikipedia page written about us – most of us will not be remembered apart from a tombstone with our names inscribed in stone.

            Which is why the greatest thing you could ever do, the most important work of your entire life, is to become holy. Not necessarily a canonized saint, but a small outpost of the love of God here in this world. As Archbishop Charles Chaput once said, “The only people to really change the world are saints.”

            It was St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross who said (and I paraphrase), “The world does not need what you have or what you do – the world needs who you are.” The greatest work you ever do will be primarily interior – yielding your heart and soul more and more to Christ, that you may decrease and He may increase. The world doesn’t need your gifts and talents – the world needs Christ living through your gifts and talents. Your gifts and talents weren’t given to glorify you, they were given to glorify God. What good is it to build skyscrapers and pass laws and make money and win championships if the only thing that is eternal – your soul – is left abandoned, dark and empty?

            We live in a world where there are a lot of action, but very little stillness. There is lots of noise, but very little silence. There are lots of opinions but very little wisdom. When our new Holy Father was elected a few weeks ago, I was shocked at how many people asked me for my comments – why do I, or any of us, need to comment about every event that occurs in the world? Sometimes, it’s better to be still, silent, and pray.

            As you graduate, you will be encouraged to go change the world, make the world a better place, seize the day. But the world already has a Savior, and it’s not you. I don’t mean this to discount all the good you have done, and will continue to do, but we have to keep in mind that “making the world a better place” is only possible with the one Savior of the human race. We need to make the world a better place because it’s been wounded by sin…which means that the antidote is grace and love, not more humanistic solutions.

            So, as you go forth to conquer college, high school, and the rest of the world, remember that the most enduring and important thing you can do is not what you do in the world, but what you allow Christ to do in your soul. When you are transformed into Christ through grace, this is what the world needs. For the world needs, not what you do or what you have, but who you are.

            I want to close with a saint story, of one who realized that the interior life is what changes the world. In the early 1900s in rural Portugal, a young girl named Alexandra was living a simple, humble life. She was uneducated, and toiled on her family’s farm. But she had a devout faith, and would often pick flowers to adorn Mary’s altar, loving the Rosary and keeping herself holy. When she was fourteen, she was on the upper floor of her family’s house when robbers broke in. Afraid for her life, she jumped out the window – and broke her spine on the fall. From that time on, she was painfully crippled. At first she could drag herself to Mass, hunched over, but pretty soon she became paralyzed and bedridden. She prayed for a cure, but more than that – she prayed to offer her life to Christ as a living sacrifice for the salvation of souls.

            For thirty years she did nothing earth-shattering. She smiled constantly, prayed without ceasing, and continually offered all her suffering for Christ and for souls. Even her prayer was suffering – she rarely experienced Christ’s presence, but persevered nonetheless. For the final thirteen years of her life, she only consumed the Eucharist and no other food – a fact verified by a team of medical doctors who observed her around-the-clock. When she died in the 1950s, she had the following words written on her tombstone: Sinners, if the dust of my body can be of help to save you, come close, walk over it, kick it around until it disappears. But never sin again: do not offend Jesus anymore! Sinners, how much I want to tell you.... Do not risk losing Jesus for all eternity, for he is so good. Enough with sin. Love Jesus, love him!

            She is now Blessed Alexandra da Costa, a mystic and victim soul. In the eyes of the world, a nothing-person. She literally could do nothing, being paralyzed – but only in eternity will we see how this poor woman changed the history of the world, not because of what she did, but because of who she was when she let Christ reign in her heart.

            This is your mission, too. Not to seek after great deeds, fame, or success as the world views it – but to fulfill God’s will for your life. If He lives in you, then whether you be the President or garbage-man, your life will change the world, because the world doesn’t need what you do – the world needs who you are, if you are Christ’s.