A Graduation Speech

At the Traditional Catholic School my son attends, the 8th Grade class competes for the privilege of giving the Graduation speech. This is the speech that my 14 year old son Andrew wrote. You might remember that he also wrote a short essay on Perseverance. Andrew received an A for this speech and I am very proud of him. He was not selected to give the speech at graduation however. The two students who will give the speech must have really written something extraordinary and I can hardly wait to hear them.

Andrew Alexander May 28, 2008
Grade 8
Christ Our Hope

“ I am coming sent by Jesus Christ to bring you His word of life. Together, with my bishops I have chosen as a theme of my journey three simple but essential words: Christ our Hope. Following the footsteps of my venerable predecessors Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, I shall come to the United States as Pope for the first time to proclaim this great truth.” These are the words of our holy father, Pope Benedict XVI before his arrival to our country. A lot of people might ask,” why is the topic Christ our Hope? What does this mean?”

Our visible head of the Church meant something our ignorant world needs to hear. When we think of Our Lord, we think of our Divine Creator, or the second person of the Blessed Trinity who died for us. We can all agree that this simply defines Christ, but He is much more, for He is our Hope who can help us in any difficult time in life. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one that keeps us in existence. He is the only one that gives us a reason to live our lives to the fullest of our expectations whether we are living in good times or bad. During times when we may be having a bad day, or long tiring week, it may not occur to us that the only way we can get through these troubles is Christ. We must rely on Christ so that He may help us stand strong in our faith in the midst of these troubles.

Here, at this school, Christ gives us the blessing of living around other Catholics, who are willing to live and die for their faith. When Christ gives us this opportunity, we should take advantage of it, enjoy it, cherish it, for the Lord can give and the Lord can take away.

We must prove how much we rely on Christ through prayer that He may help us pull through any problem or tragedy in our lives. In the Battle of Lepanto, it seemed hopeless for the crusaders to conquer the Muslims, but when our ancestors of Christian Europe prayed the Rosary, the soldiers of Christ came to a victorious domination over the Islamic Turks. Surely, people must have realized that no matter how hopeless situations can appear, miracles can happen and Christ will prevail.

Here in our time, we live in a restless world that will remain restless until the end of time. No matter how difficult life may be, it does not mean we alone can change the ideas of our world and teach them the main goal of life: Eternal Salvation in Heaven. Without the help of Christ, we will continue our errors, neglecting to perfect our lives, our nation, and the rest of the world. So, today I challenge each and every one of you to perfect your lives as Catholics and show the world the one supernatural goal in life, for it is not too late, and with Christ, there is still hope.

And here he is- Andrew, just a regular guy.